Origins
by youte
Summary: Mostly pre-series. Six families. Twelve parents. Six children. One destiny. Sometimes, you just can't choose. Sometimes, your dreams are nothing compared to what is written. And sometimes, you can only close your eyes, and hope for the better.
1. December 3rd 1986

o

**December 3****rd**** 1986**

**Tokyo**

o

"Hey, you."

Groggy, the woman opened her eyes slowly.

"Daiki? What… happened?"

"You fell asleep. Don't worry, you're fine. Both of you."

"Mamoru?"

Daiki Chiba smiled as he helped his wife to sit down, then proudly he went to retrieve their newborn son.

"Here he is. And he's healthy and very handsome."

He gave the baby to her and she immediately began to silently cry, happiness and relief pouring out of her.

"Hey, you. He's… he's…"

"I know. I know," Daiki half laughed and half chocked. "I know, Kasumi."

"After all this time… all these doctors telling us to stop… He's there… our baby…"

"Yes. We succeeded. We have our son. We have our family."

"Our miracle."

Daiki kissed her and sat down next to them, sighing tiredly.

"Your boss sent you flowers and congratulations. Ren and Nami will come see you tomorrow morning. They'll bring Seigi too. He wants to meet Mamoru."

"When I think that Sei's already two years old!"

"Yes. Can you believe that one day our Mamoru will be that big, too? And later, he'll be a young man." He smiled, watching his son move calmly his tiny fingers around his mom's pinkie. "What are you thinking?"

"Oh, nothing. I'm so happy, Daiki."

"I know. I am, too."

"Daiki…"

"What?"

She hesitated. Could she really tell him about the dreams? About the king she had seen and that kingdom on the Moon, about the foreboding? She had seen Earth being eaten by darkness, and her son, her precious little boy then a man with warm brown eyes, a serious face and strength in his heart, handsome and brave, standing between evil and his world. She had seen things, impossible things.

"No. No, nothing. I'm a little tired."

"Do you need something?"

"No, thanks. I have all I need."

She rocked her son against her and quietly sighed, forgetting those nightmares. She had to think of the future, now that they finally had that child they had dreamed about for years. Now that they, who had no more family besides their friends, had created their own.

"I'll have to go back to work soon." Daiki sighed. "I'm not really looking forward to it."

"You love your job."

"Of course. But I'll miss so many things! We've waited so long for him, and now that he's finally here… I want to be at his side every step of his life. I don't want to be like my father was."

"You're not him. Our son will have someone to look up to, someone to look after him and to love him."

"He will have two people like that."

"He's lucky."

"He is, and we are. I'm sure he'll be a great little man."

"I'm looking forward to see what he'll become."

"A teacher, like his daddy."

"Or a librarian, like mommy."

"You're forgetting thief."

"Hey! I was young! And shshsh!"

Daiki laughed.

"Nobody is listening to us, we're alone!"

"Still. Stop teasing me about my past."

"Yes, Mamoru, mommy has a _past_."

Mamoru…

Kasumi Chiba had the feeling that this name was perfect for her baby.

_But I'll be _your_ protector, Mamoru. I'll be there between you and darkness. I promise. You won't grow up like me, alone and scared. Nobody will ever hurt you. I'll always be there for you, my son._

_Always._

o


	2. April 17th 1989

o

**April 17th 1989**

**Tokyo**

o

"No (…) Yes, a little girl. (…) No, we haven't chosen yet. (…) I just want it to say that Risa and the baby are well. (…) No photo, no."

Risa kept rocking her newborn daughter, not paying any attention to her husband standing near the window of their bedroom. His phone had been ringing constantly for hours, it wasn't the first time Takashi Hino took a last minute leave, but it was the first time because of a family emergency.

He finally hung up and sighed heavily.

"It was my assistant, for the press release."

"Yes, I guessed."

She cooed at the baby, and then beamed at her husband.

"She's really cute."

"Cute?" Takashi asked, looking at their child curiously. "She's just a baby."

"Yes, but she's cute."

"Have you slept enough?"

"Yes, thank you. See, it wasn't that terrible, my idea to have her at home."

"We are lucky, that's all. I still say that it's safer in a hospital."

She chuckled.

"You would have been the same. All stressed and worried."

He frowned severely.

"I wasn't all stressed and worried."

"You were," she said with a smile, amused. "I know you too well, _papa_."

He didn't notice when Risa giggled because of the expression he had then. He was too busy watching their daughter attentively.

"She opened her eyes."

"She did, she's wide awake. Do you want to hold her?"

"I… don't know."

"Come on, you'll have to carry her often, don't count on me every time she cries."

"Fine."

His hold was careful, but strong as he sat down, his baby now in his arms. When his daughter moved a little, her bright eyes looking into his intently, he couldn't help but be fascinated.

"She loves you!"

"What?"

"It's obvious, look how she looks at her papa."

"She isn't looking at me, not really. A newborn can't discern things that well."

Risa grinned.

"Takashi Hino, you've been reading my books!"

"Wh-what?" he asked, his warm eyes wide with defensiveness. "Of course not, that's ridiculous!"

"Liar. Admit it. You've been anxious, and excited, and you always want to be perfectly informed when you have to confront the unknown."

"Crazy woman," he mumbled.

"I love you," she smiled, her eyes shining with affection. "And you're as cute as your daughter."

He was ready to say something when he froze, his eyes on their young baby who had just yawned.

"She… she's…"

"Cute?"

He wrinkled his nose, not liking the word.

"I think she'll look like you in a few years."

"You do? You can't know that."

"I do."

"Thanks," Risa smiled lovingly. "We really have to name her, you know."

"You wanted to give her her name after her birth. Did you find one you like and that would suit her?"

Shaking her head, Risa sighed.

"I just keep changing my mind. I can't find anything that I really like. She already seems to have spirit, she is stubborn and so calm, I –"

"Rei."

"What?" Risa asked, surprised.

Takashi seemed stunned himself.

"I… You said she has spirit and Rei is simple, it's elegant and beautiful. I like that name. Don't you? I mean… we never really discussed it, you surely want to name her and…"

Softly laughing, Risa tried to imagine his coworkers' reaction if they ever saw him embarrassed like that. But it would never happen. Risa was the only one permitted to see this side of him, his adorable tendency to be so open when he was with her. She suddenly hoped that their daughter would inherit that side of him, it was so charming!

She remembered when they were younger, Takashi reddened easily, he had so much trouble voicing his feelings even if his eyes and face always told Risa everything she wanted to know.

"Risa?"

"Rei Hino. I love the sound of that. Rei. I bet she'll be a fiery woman."

"She's going to do great things. Here, take Little Rei. I have a few other phone calls to make."

"So soon?"

"Don't worry, it's to our friends, it's not for work."

Risa sighed and took her baby in her arms.

"Could you call my dad and tell him we found her a name? It bothered him."

"Why don't you call him? He never liked me."

"Please."

"Ok, but if that odd man begins again with his anti politic ideas –"

"Takashi, he's just a little eccentric. He's a little sad that I didn't marry a Shinto believer, that's all, he doesn't hate you, don't be so dramatic."

"Fine, I'll call him."

Risa smiled at him as he left their room and shook her head.

"Hey, Rei. Papa is coming back soon, don't worry. Your papa works hard, we can be proud, he wants to be able to help a lot of people later. And he loves us a lot. Aren't we lucky? Oh, you're tired, my love?"

There was a weird spiritual vibe coming from the baby. Risa had felt the energy when she was pregnant, she already knew that her child had a predisposition for the psychic arts. Her own gifts in this aspect had warned her, and there had been the dreams, or visions. But Rei was more then just a natural psychic. Risa didn't know exactly what she was, she just knew she was _more_.

And this warm and ancient aura…

And that sign, that had shined in a blood red light for two seconds on her forehead that morning, as if to warn her mother of her importance, of the necessity to watch over her as long as she couldn't do it herself…

"Papa is right," she whispered to her now sleeping daughter. "You're going to do great things, Rei Hino."

o


	3. June 30th 1989

o

**June 30****th**** 1989**

**Tokyo**

o

"Hiiii, smiiiiiile! Smiiiiiiiiile!"

"Are you really sure?"

"Yes, I'm really sure! Smiiiiiile!"

"Ikuko, she's just a few hours old, she won't smile yet."

"You don't know that, Kenji. Hush!"

Her husband shook his head and smiled at her antics, amused. When she was like that, the only thing he could do anyway was keep silent. While she was eccentric, loud, slightly crazy and outgoing, he was level-headed, collected and discreet. She always took more place than him, in more way than one, but it was okay. He had accepted that in her, because what he loved in Ikuko was her heart, positive energy and her altruism before everything.

"You know, I think she looks just like your mother, don't you?" Ikuko asked, frowning as she studied too closely the face of their baby girl.

"She's beautiful, but that's not a surprise. Didn't your dreams tell you that?"

"Are you still laughing at me? I tell you, those dreams were magical! Oh, oh, oh! Did I tell you that I had one last night, before the birth of this cuuuuutie? Yes, you are, yes, you are! She loves me!"

"Of course. The dream?"

"Oh, yes! There was this woman in the beautiful white dress again, and she told me to take care of our daughter, that she was special. Like I didn't know that! It's obvious that she's special, aren't you, my baby?"

"I still don't think that it's a good idea."

"You told me I could choose her first name!"

"I did but –"

"Hey, nine months of pregnancy, nine hours in that cold room and one beautiful and perfect baby, and you?"

He couldn't really say anything to that, so he just shook his head.

"But Usagi?"

"What's wrong with the name?" she glared.

"The other kids will laugh at her!"

"No, they won't! She's just too cute for that, everybody will _love_ her! Can't you see that she's just too wonderful for that? Come on, I love the name! Pleeeeaaaaase?"

He just sighed and smiled.

"Fine. I find it cute enough. But if one day she complains, we'll tell her it was entirely your idea."

"She'll never complain, you'll see! Come on, Usagi, smile to daddy!"

"She's asleep!"

"_Again_?"

"It's a wonder she stayed awake this long," Kenji laughed. "Here, give her to me, I'll put her in the crib."

As he did so, Kenji tenderly rocked her and put the cover over her with adoration.

"She's really something, eh?"

"Yes, that she is! Oh, I can't wait for her to walk and talk and play with me and to have friends and boyfriends –"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Slow down, or I'll have to lock her in her room as soon as you get home with her!"

"You have a few more years to accept the idea," Ikuko replied, shaking her hand in a dismissive gesture. "Now, I hope you have my special delivery present at home waiting for me?"

"What present?"

"You don't know how to lie to me!"

"Guilty, I love you too much for that."

"Oh."

"Don't cry!"

"But that was so _cute_! I'm sorry, it's all those hormones!"

Kenji chuckled and sat down next to her to put an arm around her shoulders.

"Here. You should rest. Now that it's three of us, you'll need all this energy you always have for the little one."

"When are we having the next one?"

"Already thinking of that?" he asked, stunned.

"I'm just asking! I'm not ready to have another one yet! I'll need at least two years, but still, we'll have other children, right?"

"Of course, that's what we always wanted. We will have to wait for my promotion."

"You're waiting for it since we met! When will they recognize your hard work? You're a great journalist, and you're less and less at home with me!"

"I know, I'm sorry. It'll come, and we will have our big family. But _I _will choose the name of the next one."

"Oh, alright, if you insist! Can we wake her now?"

"Let her sleep, she's a baby, she needs it!"

Ikuko sighed and calmed her excitation down.

"Look at that. It's as if the moonlight is enveloping her."

"Yes," her husband whispered, looking at the baby in the crib next to the window. "It's like she's glowing."

"She looks like a little princess."

"Well, she certainly is already the princess of our castle."

The silence lasted a few minutes as the new parents watched their sleeping newborn.

"What are you thinking?" Kenji quietly asked his wife who was frowning pensively.

He was half surprised to see the sudden beaming smile.

"She's going to help a lot of people, our Usagi. A lot."

o


	4. September 10th 1989

o

**September 10****th**** 1989**

**Tokyo**

o

"I'm fine, don't worry," Saeko Mizuno sighed.

Her life partner shrugged behind her.

"I just want to be sure."

"I'm a doctor, you know."

"So? I still say that it was too soon to leave the hospital. She was born this morning only."

"At three o'clock, I know, I was there," Saeko laughed. "I'm tired, but I'm well. And Souichi will come to check up on us tomorrow morning. I'm going to give her a bath."

Frowning, Atsu Kishimoto kept rocking the baby he held against his chest.

"But I had her for only one hour."

"Please, we're not going to fight so soon after her birth. Stop pouting!"

"I don't pout! I don't see why you want to give her a bath."

"She still has that dirty shirt on."

"She's not even a day old."

"She needs a quick bath. And I'll feed her."

"And after that, can I have my daughter back?"

Saeko sighed, taking her tiny girl into her arms and nodded.

"Fine. Why don't you go fix something for us in the kitchen?"

"All right."

Once she had put her daughter into the little bath, Saeko shook her head.

"See, Ami? That odd man is your father. And like many artists, he's really complicated, stubborn, he's an egocentric and he can forget that the world is still turning when he's painting. Things are not that well between us, but don't worry, that doesn't mean we don't love you."

A beaming smile suddenly made itself known on Saeko's face when the fact hit her again.

She was a mother.

She had her daughter here, in her arms. And she was healthy and cute to no end.

"My my, someone like water!"

Ami moved, making her laugh and then smile with tenderness.

"You love that, Ami? Yes, you do."

Frowning, Saeko suddenly noticed that the water seemed to have cooled down in the few last minutes. She was pretty sure that she had set the temperature just right when she had prepared the bath for the baby.

"What…?"

The water seemed to be cooler and cooler, and Ami apparently loved it that way. Puzzled, Saeko quickly got her baby out of the bath and wrapped her in a warm blanket.

"We don't want you to catch a cold, hmm?"

Checking the water, Saeko noticed that it was indeed rather cold. Looking down at the baby she still held, the woman froze when she noticed a strange blue glimmer seeming to disappear from her child's forehead.

"Mommy must be a lot more tired than what she thought, huh, baby?"

The post delivery hormones and the exhaustion could very well explain all that. As the pregnancy and all it did to the body and mind could explain the dreams Saeko had experienced these last months.

She dressed the baby and went in the bedroom to put her in her crib.

"Here. Mommy'll feed you in a few minutes, okay?"

Ami seemed ready to doze off, and her mother was happy to watch her quietly, in this room full of toys and colors. She was a true angel, and even if she never really dreamed of being a mother, Saeko was prouder of being the parent of this baby than she was of being one of the more brilliant doctors of this country.

She just knew, somewhere deep down, that her role as this little girl's mother was more important and crucial than all the others she played in hospitals or boards. It was a knowledge like so many others she held, and it scared her.

Because she was certain that this one wasn't a product of her own mind.

It was something, born inside of her during the months of her pregnancy, that she couldn't shake off, that was burnt in her heart and thoughts, the frightening knowledge that her daughter was special, and that Saeko had to know, had to watch over her, to raise her well.

She didn't really know how or why, and she just preferred to bury these thoughts far away in her mind and forget them, but still, the unsettling doubt remained.

What would happen if she didn't follow these feelings?

o


	5. October 22nd 1989

o

**October**** 22nd 1989**

**Iwate**** prefecture**

o

"Is the baby born? Am I too late? Are they alright?"

"Mister Lowell, please! You're in a hospital, could you please calm down?"

"What? Where are they? Is my baby born?"

"Yes, yes, in the room…"

The tall man with dark hair but light brown eyes didn't listen to the rest of the answer. He just ran toward the room pointed at by the nurse and burst into it, out of breath.

"Hiroshi, have you looked at yourself?"

He frowned, looked down at himself and shrugged, swallowing down his frustration. He had jumped out of his bed so quickly when he got the text from his friend that he hadn't really paid attention to what he was putting on. His old brown pants and this red shirt he had been sleeping on truly were horrible but he didn't care one bit.

"I would have looked better if you had told me you were having our child. Where is the baby?"

Her gaze darkened.

"The nurse has it. I told you, Hiroshi. I never wanted to be a mother."

"But last month you seemed… I don't know, you seemed to get around the idea."

"My idea was to abort. And you know it. It was an accident. We weren't married!"

"But the baby is there now, and it's…"

"It's my problem, not yours, huh? It's not you who had to give birth to it! Sixteen hours! Sixteen! It could have been born at midnight but no! the little wailing thing would only come into the good world with the first rays of sunlight!"

"Is the baby alright?"

"The baby? And me? Doesn't it bother you that I couldn't properly sleep all these last weeks because of… of these dreams, these damn dreams of light, and of strange and fair people and of this orange sky!"

"Yeah, yeah, I know, you have nightmares. How is the baby?"

"How did you know anyway?"

His eyes narrowed.

"I have a friend who works here. I asked him to warn me if he saw your name on the patients' list one day. The baby?"

"Here she is!" said a voice behind them.

A smiling male nurse came into the room, pushing a rolling plastic crib. A tiny newborn was calmly moving inside, wrapped in little orange pajamas.

"She?" Hiroshi repeated, gazing at the baby in awe. "A girl? A girl."

"Yep, and I have to tell you, she's a gorgeous thing too, sunny and strong. Believe me, I've seen a lot of babies. This little one is special."

"Special."

A snort came from behind the men, and Hiroshi tensed.

"Could you bring her back to the nursery? I'll be there shortly."

The nurse nodded and left with the baby.

"They gave her your name."

"She's an Aino, isn't she?"

"I want to be recognised as her father!"

"And you want to raise her, too?"

He paled.

"You know I can't. You know that!"

"That's easy, isn't it?"

"Easy?" he repeated. "I'm broke. That's why you left me, isn't it? I'm broke, unemployed, with no family! You know I have to go back to England to sell my father's house, it's crumbling, and when I come back I'll have close to nothing left. I can't raise a baby, she needs a lot of things and a home! If I could, I would, you _know _it's killing me, but I've done all I could these last months! There's no job for me here, I have to leave, and for the moment I can't take the baby with me, it would be irresponsible!"

"So because you're such a loser I have to take care of it!"

"She's your daughter! Damn it, Kire, she's your child!"

"Oh, I know that."

"You have a job, a flat, you can raise her well, I know you can. Kire, please, she needs you!"

"I don't need her."

He froze, looked at this beautiful woman and wondered where the girl he had fallen in love with years ago had gone.

"What happened to you?" he whispered. "Have you always been this cold, this bitter? I knew you loved money and attention, but this?"

"Don't play the shocked man with me, Hiro. I know you well, and if you really wanted this so perfect baby, you would do anything to take her with you."

"I'm doing all I can."

"Which is not a lot. Face it, you're pathetic. You made me have her, and now you're leaving me with her!"

"Now you're going to listen to me," he whispered strongly, coming toward the bed with fire in his eyes. She just glared back. "You're going to take care of our daughter, you're going to see to her needs, and to make her happy and to keep her safe. In the meantime I'm going to find a job and take care of things on my side. One day, I'll come back, and if I see that she's been unhappy or that you didn't take care of her well enough, I'll make you pay. You understand?"

He went toward the door, ignoring the shocked and unbelieving look he was getting from the mother of his child. A weak man, he was, she was right. But she was worse than him, and this truth was giving him strength that he didn't have in truth.

When he entered the nursery, he found the right crib immediately, as if his daughter was calling out to him, as if her mere presence was enough to draw all attention toward her. He looked at her and smiled sadly, because she really was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen, and because she happened to be the offspring of two of the weaker and most sickening humans on Earth.

Kire and Hiroshi always were cowards. She was egocentric, bitter like the wannabe model and true waiter that she was, hungry for all sorts of attention and dreaming of money and fame. She had the looks, and a real gift for judging clothes and people alike. He was not bad looking himself, the little workman with no ambition and no backbone, an artist before anything else with no courage nor spirit, a cabinetmaker with no job and no money.

Both of them were cowards, refusing to see their faults and incapable of learning from their mistakes.

And they were the parents of this tiny little girl, this miracle.

"You can touch her, you know. She won't break," the male nurse said gently to him.

"She's so little. Is it normal?"

"She is little for a newborn, that's true, especially given that she was right on time. It's possible that she'll always be a puny child, but don't worry, it does not necessary say something on her future health."

"How do I take her?"

The man smiled and showed him how to safely hold his daughter in his arms. Hiroshi lightly rocked her for a few minutes, and then caressed her soft cheek. His proud smile became watery when her tiny fingers met one of his own.

"Hey, you," he whispered. The baby gurgled and he smiled again. "Look at you, you're so perfect. I'm… I'm your daddy. Hiroshi Lowell. That's my name. Funny, huh? That's because my daddy was English. I hope that one day you'll go to England, and you're going to love it, aren't you? You're special. Special, never forget that, my little one."

Was it his imagination? He narrowed his eyes and shook his head. It must have been because of the light above him. For a second, he had seen a weird golden glow around the baby. It was funny, because warmness seemed to come from her in waves, soothing his heart, his thoughts. Wait. Something seemed to appear on her forehead… A sign? A symbol?

"Hum, mister Lowell?"

Hiroshi jumped and instinctively held his daughter more tightly against him, preventing the nurse from potentially seeing the abnormal phenomenon. A useless act, because no light, no warmness and no sign was there anymore.

_Just a trick of the light._

Still, Hiroshi couldn't shake his uneasiness and the bout of protectiveness inside of his chest, as if something somewhere were pushing him to act that way, to keep the baby safe.

"I'm sorry, mister Lowell, but have you chosen a name for her yet? Because miss Aino didn't tell us anything."

She didn't name her…

A name…

Hiroshi had always thought that Kire would name the baby without consulting him, so he had forced himself to forget about it, but… nevertheless, in his weaker moments during these last difficult months of seeking jobs and trying to save the most money possible, he had daydreamed about how his child would look like and about names.

For a girl, he had four names on his list.

Mari. Emi. Because they sounded like European names.

Chiyoko, because he liked the sound of it.

Molly, because it was his paternal grandmother's name.

He watched the child in his arms, saw how the light seemed to attach itself to her.

It was truly a gorgeous baby.

"Minako," he whispered, and it seemed perfect. "Her name is Minako. Minako Aino."

When Hiroshi left the hospital and, three hours later, the city, he couldn't know that this beautiful name that he had chosen for his so special child would haunt him years later.

He had a good heart but he truly was a pathetic coward. Knowing in his heart that he would regret leaving his newborn daughter for the rest of his life didn't make him turn around.

It didn't even make him hesitate.

o


	6. December 5th 1989

o

**December 5****th**** 1989**

**Okinawa prefecture**

o

"Is she sleeping?"

"Yes."

"Is she well?"

"Yes."

"Careful, I don't think you're holding her head well."

He smiled tenderly at his wife and raised an eyebrow. She reddened.

"Sorry. I guess I'm a little nervous."

"Our little princess is just fine. You should sleep. After tomorrow we're going home."

"All three of us. At last."

"Yes," he laughed softly. "Do you hear mommy? We waited a long time for you, little Makoto."

The baby yawned, making her father raised his head excitedly.

"Did you see that? Did you see what she just did?"

"Yes, Masashi, I saw. Wonderful."

"Haha. You're funny. Don't laugh at me. Do you see how your mommy is with me?"

He put the baby back in her crib and went to sit down on the bed next to his wife.

"She's so beautiful," he said softly, kissing her forehead. "Thank you."

"You're welcome. I personally think that she has your good looks."

"You do?"

"But her intelligence will come from her mother."

"Nice, thanks a lot, Sakura."

She laughed and sighed happily.

"Are you going to the shop on Monday?"

"Of course. I have to work on that décor for the next play."

"The Hondo Theater?"

"Yes. But don't worry, I'll come home soon enough. When will you go back to work?"

"February. You know, to work on that dictionary."

"Ah, yes."

"Look at her. She's so peaceful."

"Yep, it's amazing considering that it's storm after storm since she was born. What is wrong with the weather? It's crazy!"

"It doesn't seem to faze her."

"No. I'm going to drink a coffee. Want something?"

"No, thank you."

He left the room and the young mother stayed there, looking at the baby. Thunder seemed to make the walls tremble, and yet Makoto kept sleeping without a care in the world.

"You are really brave, my baby, aren't you?" Sakura whispered to her daughter lovingly. "Or do you just love storms?"

Lightening illuminated the room, and for a second or two, the silver glow seemed to concentrate around the young baby, and in that instant, a green light seemed to glimmer on her tiny forehead.

"I didn't find the coffee."

Sakura, troubled, turned toward her husband. When she looked at her child again, she saw nothing out of the ordinary and tried to forget it. And yet, she just couldn't shake that impression that something was definitively strange.

"She's special."

"Yes," Sakura echoed. "Special."

And that word resonated in her with extraordinary strength.

"Masashi?"

"Hmm?"

"Do you remember the dreams I told you about?"

"You mean the ones about that strange place, and the green light?"

"Yes. I had them every night these last three weeks. But last night, nothing."

"But you didn't have it constantly before. Just once or twice a month. It must have been the pregnancy, you shouldn't worry about it. Now that Makoto is born, you will be fine."

"Yes," she whispered, looking at the baby with wonder.

She had dreamed of things she didn't dare telling her husband about. A regal woman in a green and white dress, with green eyes, fiery hair, and a soft smile. It was a queen, it seemed obvious to Sakura, a queen with somber eyes and sadness in her, as if she had seen everything she had ever loved disappear, her love, her children, her people. And by her side was a man with a beard, a lance in his right hand and dark eyes full of wisdom.

Sakura had seen a sign, too, a sign she didn't understand but that she was sure almost formed on her daughter's forehead just two minutes ago.

And even if she didn't know who these two people were, even if she didn't understand how her daughter could be so special, she just knew. She knew that she would never dream about them again, that she had seen them in her sleep only for her to understand that her baby had been blessed and that she had to protect her, to keep her safe until it was time for her to meet her destiny.

Because her daughter was special beyond what Sakura and Masashi would ever understand, because she was born with a magical heritage and a heroic destiny.

_We're going to raise her well. We're going to love her and __she'll become a respectful woman, altruistic, strong and loving._

_She'll be special._

Lost in her thoughts, Sakura never noticed that outside, the storm had finally ceased.

o


	7. 1992

o

**1992**

o

**Tokyo**

Nami Kusaka and Kasumi Chiba smiled as they watched their husbands and children play football in the park. It was not rare for the friends to spend their Sunday together, but this one was particularly beautiful.

"Mamoru is growing up well. Does he still have headaches?"

"Yes, sometimes, but it's okay for the most part."

"Do you really think it was linked to his dreams?" Nami asked quietly, for she didn't want their families to hear.

"I think so. Since we talked with him about them, he seems to have forgotten them. He doesn't dream anymore of this war and of the Moon. He's better now, and look at him, he's so happy."

"He is. He's a good boy."

"Yeah, that's surely because of the education Daiki is giving him!" She laughed. "I swear, he's raising Mamoru as if he was to be a gentleman and a knight! The same manners and codes!"

"Well, when he'll be a young man, he'll have all the ladies at his feet! I wish I could say the same about my Seigi, he's a sweetheart, but I fear he's typically awkward with girls!"

The eight-year-old was running toward the net protected by his five year old sister but was blocked by his father.

"Mamoru! Mamoru! Catch!"

The six year old boy caught de ball and ran toward the goal before shooting. The little girl couldn't stop the ball, and she immediately froze before crying quietly.

"Oh, dear," Nami sighed. "Here we go."

Mamoru frowned, ill at ease, not knowing if he should be happy for his victory or shameful because he had made a girl cry. He shyly went toward his friend and awkwardly smiled.

"I'm sorry, Hina. I didn't want to make you sad."

The little girl shook her head and erased her tears.

"I'm a big girl, and I don't cry!"

"Ah. You know, next time, you could play in one of the teams, and I could be the goalkeeper."

"Really?"

"Yeah," Mamoru smiled, seeing that Hina seemed to like the idea. "And if you're better than me, I'll have to give you my share of cookies."

"We'll see, then."

Hina smiled and ran toward her mother when she saw her coming toward them. Kasumi stopped in front of her son and smiled brightly.

"That was very nice of you, Mamoru."

"She was sad. I don't like it when people are sad, mom."

"I know."

"Hey, Mamo, are you coming? There is orange juice, and _sweets_!"

Smiling, the boy ran toward Seigi and the others, and his mother just watched him go, a proud feeling in her heart.

Mamoru was such a sweet boy, always thinking of others around him. He was intelligent, sensible and thoughtful.

As the years passed, it was becoming clearer and clearer that he was truly special, with his strange way of noticing everything around him. He had an aura that gave him charisma beyond his years, and a heart that could put any saint to shame.

It was as if… as if he had been sent to Earth…

"My angel," Kasumi whispered, before shaking her head.

O

**Okinawa prefecture**

"Hey, Hiroshi!"

"Oh, hey, Masashi. How are you?"

"Pretty well, thanks!"

Masashi sat down next to the other man on the grass and smiled.

"Beautiful work you have done on that décor of the children's play. Hiring you was the best thing I have ever done, man!"

"Thanks. Is that your kid?"

"Yes," Masashi smiled proudly as he watched little Makoto playing near the swings with her mother. "Makoto."

"How old is she now?"

"Three. Well, she'll be three in December. They grow up so fast!"

He saw Hiroshi lower his eyes and frowned. Since the man had come in the city looking for a job, a year ago, he had pretty much kept to himself, even if Masashi and him were friends now, he realized he didn't know him very well.

"You like children?" he asked.

Hiroshi closed the book he had been reading and shook his head. Masashi was taller than him – he was taller than almost everyone, but he could easily something somber in his eyes.

"I don't know. Never really been near them before."

"Ah."

"What kind of little girl is she, your Makoto?"

"The best! Cute, smart, curious. She has a weird fascination for trees and flowers, and she just loves storms. Strange, huh? We joke about it all the time because the day she was born, a series of storms was ravaging the region."

"Really?"

"Yeah. I'm lucky. And you? Do you have a girlfriend?"

"If you're asking me that because of Ayaka, it didn't work out."

"Really? Aw, Hiro, why?"

"I don't know. It just didn't. I guess… I guess I'm not ready yet."

"She must have been something, the woman who hurt you in the past."

Hiroshi raised an eyebrow at him.

"You're nosy."

"I know. Nosy and clumsy, that's me. But I'm still convinced that it's why Sakura finds me so charming."

"Poor Sakura, then," Hiroshi chuckled. He looked toward Makoto and his boss's wife and sighed. "She was something, yeah. Beautiful and witty. We had a few good years, but we never really thought about the future. She was funny, too. Full of crazy dreams and ambition. I wasn't what she needed. She wanted a man like her, and I'm just… me. Things got ugly between us after a while, when she understood that I would never become a successful careerist. That, and things weren't going as she had hoped in her life and I think it really hurt her. I lost my job, and I had virtually no more money and she had to go back to her waiter life. She hated me for it. We broke up. And…"

"What?"

"She learned that she was pregnant. For her, it was hell. She wanted to abort, but I convinced her to keep the child. But I couldn't find a job. She had the baby… for me. She never wanted to be a mother, and today… I'm here, and she's somewhere with our little girl, and I can only hope that everything's fine."

"How old is she, your girl?"

"Actually, the same age as Makoto. Here," he opened his book and showed a picture of a newborn to his friend, "that's her. My daughter. Minako."

"Beautiful baby."

"Thanks," Hiroshi proudly smiled. "And… that's a picture an old friend of mine took one year ago when he saw Kire and Minako in a shop." He showed Masashi a picture badly taken, somewhat blurred, but where a little girl with black hair and a serious face was visible. "She's cute, huh?"

"That she is. You never saw her?"

"Not since the day of her birth, no. I tried calling Kire, but she keeps changing her phone number. Minako will be three in two weeks. Another birthday I'll miss."

"Why don't you go see her?"

"It's not that simple. I have not enough money yet, I'm barely paying back my debts. And Kire would never let me in."

"That's why family laws were created, you know."

"No, I can't. Kire… And I have nothing to offer Minako anyway, I'm living in a tiny flat with two other guys,… And what could I tell her?"

"That you love her."

Hiroshi sighed and put the two pictures back into his book.

"If only it was enough."

O

**Tokyo**

"Usagi, what did I tell you about that?"

"Daddy?" the little girl asked with her trademark enormous smile.

Kenji sighed, for as much as she was a crybaby, his princess was also a happy, enthusiastic and loving girl with a heart almost too big for such a little lady.

"Ooooooohhhh! Look at that!" Ikuko exclaimed as she came back in the living room. "Your clinic is getting so big, sweetie!"

"Mister grasshopper hurt his leg, missy slug is all weird, mister big spider don't walk well and… and…"

"It's a dragonfly, Usagi. Where did you find it, I don't –"

"A dragon!" the little girl screamed with fright, already hiding behind her mother, tears in her eyes. "He eats me and then he will destroy the kingdom!"

"You're really reading too many fairytales to her," Kenji said calmly to his wife.

Ikuko took her crying daughter in her arms.

"That little thing is not going to eat you," she cooed. "Mister dragonfly is a very nice guy! See?"

"Nice?" Usagi quietly asked, eying the insect like she would be eyeing a vicious enemy.

"Besides he's hurt, isn't he? That's why he's in your clinic, after all."

"Yes, they all hurt." Her bottom lip trembled, but the child took a deep breath and nodded to herself. She returned in front of the coffee table and picked up her toy stethoscopes. "I help them!"

"Of course, you are!"

"Ikuko!" Kenji quietly scolded her. "We agreed to tell her not to bring back bugs inside the house anymore!"

"But it's soooo _cute_!"

"It's disgusting!"

"Oh, I'll clean! Our little girl is a healer in training, do not interfere with her goodness!"

"She's a nice child, it doesn't mean that –"

"When baby is coming?" Little Usagi asked suddenly.

Kenji sighed.

"We told you, sweetheart. It's really tiny now, your little sister or little brother won't be there before months."

"I want him or her now!" Usagi pouted. "And I told Naru that we see the baby tomorrow! Her mommy said yes!"

"Naru can come to play with you, but you have to be patient. The baby is too little and too fragile to come out now."

"Oh don't be sad!" Ikuko said crouching down next to her daughter. "You know what? We should put your little patients in the dollhouse, they'll be comfy inside of it!"

"Oh, yes! Help me!"

Usagi was already running clumsily toward her room. Kenji just shook his head.

"Ikuko…"

"What? She just wants to help! She's such a sweetheart!"

"We agreed."

"Yes, but come on! You see it too, she has a gift for helping others, she makes everyone smile wherever she is! That's our little princess!"

"I know, but the bugs…"

"Daddy! Come help!"

Ikuko raised an eyebrow, and he sighed.

"Don't interfere with her goodness?"

A beaming smile made her eyes shine and she gave him a quick kiss that nearly made him fall back.

"_Daddy!_"

"Coming!"

O


	8. 1993

O

**1993**

O

**Tokyo**

"Do you miss daddy?"

Saeko smiled at the four-year-old.

"Sometimes."

"But you are angry?"

"Yes, but it doesn't mean you have to be angry, Ami. You love your dad and daddy loves you, you know that, right?"

"Hmm," Ami nodded, finishing her drawing.

The child was a genius, that had been established. Saeko had seen it early in her daughter's life and a specialist had confirmed it. Ami was simply a prodigy. She had a perfect memory and an intellectual capacity never seen in the country before. And somehow, Saeko wasn't surprised. The fact that Ami was an excellent swimmer seemed also obvious. She didn't explain it, these were just facts she had known.

The phone rang and Ami beamed, taking it from her mother's hands and answering it quickly. At least, Atsu never forgot to call his daughter four times a week.

When she hung up, Ami appeared sad, as always. And so Saeko smiled gently at her.

"Did I tell you that I don't have to go to work today?"

"Really?" Ami asked, curiously.

"Really. So Nagisa won't come to look after you, it's just you and I all day. Are you glad?"

"Yes! What are we going to do?"

"Do you want to cook?"

"Cook? Really?"

"Why don't we make biscuits, you and I?"

"I'd love to!"

Ami put the same attention and seriousness in cooking than she did in every thing she learned to do, and seeing that serious air on her baby face made her mother smiled proudly. Even at four, Ami was a perfectionist, like her mom, and it was a relief to have such a perfect child. Saeko didn't know how she would have dealt with a turbulent little one, she had patience but she had little time to lose because of her job.

Ami was a sweetheart, everybody told Saeko so. She was calm, very polite, intelligent, curious, but too shy, too cautious. Her teacher had told Saeko that because of her maturity and her reserved nature Ami had trouble finding herself little friends. She didn't seem to suffer from it, but her mother was worried.

"Mommy?"

"Yes?"

"I dreamed of water again. And of the city beneath it."

Saeko tensed. She remembered too well having seen the same things in her sleep years before.

"A city?"

"Yes, and a lot of people were living in it. And some had blue hair! And it should have been weird, but it wasn't. And I was this girl, older than me, and I gave orders and I loved water there too."

"Ami…"

"Yes?"

Saeko looked into her eyes and her heart seemed to constrict. She just knew her daughter wasn't supposed to be dreaming these things, she wasn't supposed to _know _whatever it was that she was seeing. Saeko must have said something to her about the old dreams once, and Ami had unconsciously recreated them. There was no other possible explanation.

"Dreams are only that, dreams. You shouldn't give any attention to them. You should forget them when you open your eyes, because they're not real."

"Do you think the people with blue hair will be angry?"

"No, I think that if they want you to dream about them, they'll come back when you're old enough not to be bothered by it."

"Oh. If you want, mommy, I can stop dreaming them," Ami affirmed seriously, as if she had felt the tension in Saeko.

"Okay. But if one day they come back, you can come to me to talk about them."

"I will. Oh, no! I broke an arm on my star. How can I make it right again?"

Saeko smiled as she helped her with the biscuits. She knew now that everything would be fine.

O

**Iwate prefecture**

"Yes, we're leaving next week."

"So soon?" Keiko Aino asked her cousin.

"I have to leave this damn city," Kire answered as she put books and movies into a box in her modest living room. "There's nothing for me there."

"And you think that there will be something in England for you?"

"Paul is working in an agency there. He's going to introduce me to –"

"Please, you barely know him! You met him in the café, for god's sake!"

"The clients aren't all liars, you know. And my lousy boss, always screaming his head off! Well, he can go to hell!"

"And Minako?"

"What, Minako? It'll do her good to leave, seeing new things. It's not like she has a lot of friends here anyway. She's just too weird for that."

"Kire!"

"What? Have you seen what she's always drawing? And these dreams that she says she has… Even her teacher has noticed something. She called me three times! As if I had the time for that!"

"You don't know what she wanted to tell you?"

"Surely that the child is an idiot, or an outcast. The other children are avoiding her, I told her to be a little more normal, but she doesn't understand!"

"Please, she's smart for her age. She's enthusiast and sweet. Besides, she's only four."

"She's clumsy, hyperactive and disturbing. You just can't say what she's thinking sometimes, she looks at you as if she could _read_ you…"

"I think you're too hard on her. She's so young and –"

"Are you saying I'm a bad mother?"

"No, I –"

Kire glared at her cousin

"My child won't be like all those other brats who can't stand on their own, who can't cross the street alone and cry every time life is being hard! She knows how to take care of herself and she'll be an independent and strong woman!"

She sighed, frutrated, and went toward another cupboard but swore when she stumbled because of a worn toy.

"Oh, that kid! Minako!"

A few seconds later the tiny girl ran inside of the room, looking nervous.

"Yes?"

"I told you to pick up your things, didn't I? Big girls know how to keep a house tidy!"

"Sorry," her daughter said before quickly grabbing her old doll.

"What were you doing?"

"Watching TV."

"If you break anything again because you're mimicking an old western and those stupid singers…"

"I won't," Minako affirmed quickly. "I'm a big girl, I don't break things."

"Fine."

Minako went back to the kitchen again as her mother resumed what she was doing.

"She's so much like her bastard father!"

"Kire!"

"He was the smart one, leaving like that, I tell you! He doesn't have to put up with her! The selfish coward! As if I wanted the kid!"

"_Kire_! She can hear you, for heaven's sake!"

For a second, the two women looked at each other, one shocked, the other angry. But Kire lowered her eyes and, with trembling hands, kept putting her books into boxes. Keiko quietly sighed and went into the kitchen. The TV was on, but there was no sign of the little girl.

The sound of a door closing informed Keiko that Minako had gone back to her bedroom and she followed her. She knocked and went into the little room, seeing the few shelves already almost empty. Minako was currently putting her drawings away, taking them clumsily off the walls to put them into a box.

"Hey, Minako."

"Hi, aunt Keiko," Minako answered quietly, still preparing their departure.

Not knowing what to say to this child she had before rarely seen, for she was leaving in Tokyo, Keiko kept silent. She never really had been at ease with children. She didn't have a child herself yet and never had spent time with one.

The bedroom had rather been empty even before the boxes. Kire wasn't one to spoil her child, because she didn't earn a lot of money and because she wasn't that kind of mothers. The only things she liked buying her daughter were her clothes. Keiko could already see the fashion tastes Kire had passed on to the child.

Keiko had seen Minako only three times, and she couldn't remember a time when Kire had been openly affectionate with the baby, she would always care for the child from a distance, affective at first and physical later. And now that she thought about it, Minako had never really laughed in front of Keiko. She was way too solemn for such a tiny girl, always serious when with an adult and too well mannered.

"Are you ready to leave?"

"Yes. We're going on a plane, you know."

"Yes. Are you scared to leave?"

The child looked back at her curiously.

"No. Why?"

"I don't know. England is far away."

"I'm not scared. Big girls are never scared."

"Oh, of course. Have you drawn all these?"

"Yes," Minako answered warily, her voice subdued. "But mom doesn't like them. Miss Tomake doesn't like them too."

Keiko studied the drawings. They were well done for a child of that age. A castle on the Moon, bright and beautiful. Houses under an orange sky. Blue unicorns running toward what seemed to be children weirdly dressed. A woman with crown wearing a long yellow dress, a red (bloody?) sword in her hand. Another woman with a diadem crying under the rain, with what seemed to be rocks around her. Women fighting ugly monsters. And losing.

"You don't like them either."

The soft voice made Keiko jumped. Minako was looking at her with her chestnut eyes too somber, loneliness shining inside of them. Her innocent baby face didn't betray anything, as always the child remained strangely impassive. But something in her… and around her, like an aura… something was just…

_Not right_.

And as if she could see in her heart, as if she could read her thoughts, Minako lowered her pained eyes quickly and took a step back.

Keiko opened her mouth, but she couldn't say anything. The childish drawings were just plain scary. They were worrying, bearing a sense of foreboding, giving the woman goose bumps.

And the girl…

"You… you imagined them? You saw those on TV, maybe?"

"No, I dreamed them," Minako quietly said, not raising her eyes. She brought her old doll to her chest. "Mom doesn't want me to talk about the dreams. She says big girls keep their dreams to themselves and aren't scared of them. They just learn to live with them."

"Oh. Ah, then, you… maybe you should stop drawing them?"

Minako quietly nodded. Keiko didn't know what to say or do. She didn't want to hurt the child, but she really _needed_ to leave this room.

"So, we're going to see each other even less now," Minako said, raising her eyes hesitantly.

Keiko nodded, feeling as if the little girl had read into her again, as if she was offering her the opportunity to leave.

"Yes," Keiko confirmed. "But… I'll write, I promise."

"Alright. But I don't know how to read."

"You will. Goodbye, then. Take care of yourself, Minako."

"Bye, aunt Keiko."

Keiko left the room, said a quick goodbye to her cousin, took her bag and left for the train station, stunned beyond herself.

Maybe Kire had been right all along. Minako seemed…

She was _not_ ordinary.

Keiko couldn't say if it was the influence of Kire's words or the room and the drawings or just how her instincts reacted when Minako had fixed her so intently, but she was relieved to leave. She was ashamed, but she was relieved.

It was only halfway to Tokyo that she noticed that she still held the new doll she had wanted to give to Minako.

O

**Tokyo**

"So, he's alright?"

"Yes, mister Chiba. These headaches might have been caused by external stimuli. The treatment should suffice to help him."

"Alright, thanks, doctor Mizuno."

Saeko smiled at the couple and gave Mamoru his shirt back.

"You must be anxious to leave, young man."

"Not really. You're really nice."

"Thank you," Saeko smiled as the brown eyes of the boy found hers.

His gaze was soft, bright and warm, and a feeling of security and peace found its way into her heart.

"You are a really nice patient yourself."

"Dad promised he would go to the movies with me."

"Well, you're a lucky boy."

The child smiled and nodded, and as Saeko wrote her diagnosis on his file, she heard the man whispering things to his wife. Despite herself, she listened.

"We should tell her about the dreams."

"No," Mrs Chiba whispered. "He has completly forgotten them. It can't be that, he doesn't have them anymore, not since we talked to him."

"But what if it's related?"

"We can't tell her about it."

Saeko felt the hair on her arms stand. She thought about her daughter. But the dreams had stopped when she had reassured her about them months before.

Could it be…?

No.

No, it couldn't.

The dreams she had had when she was pregnant and the dreams Ami had talked about weren't really the same and had been provoked by hormones and suggestion, it was just a coincidence.

Like that boy, and this peaceful energy coming from him, and the whispers of his parents.

Coincidences.

O


	9. 1994

_In case you're wondering, there will be approximately eight or nine little chapters after this one, corresponding to the years before the beginning of PGSM. And then surely a few more little scenes during and/or after the two years of PGSM. And the next chapters are going to be more focused on the children and less on the parents. _

O

**1994**

O

**Okinawa prefecture**

"Look! Look!"

"And that one!"

"Oooh!"

The visit of the rosary was fascinating for the class of five year olds. But none of these children was more fascinated by all these flowers than Makoto Kino. She was so interested that she didn't even notice her young friends, Rina and Jun, leaving her side to run toward the rest of the group.

Makoto knew she was a little special. But at her young age, she believed that _everyone _was. It was evident. Like she loved vegetation and could tell when a storm was coming, the others surely had special gifts too. Gift, that was the word her mom used when she told her to stay quiet about the changes of the weather or the whispers of the trees. Her dad just looked ill at ease when Makoto talked about it, so she had learned to stop.

Anyway, the red roses in this greenhouse were beautiful and the little girl couldn't help but be totally entranced by them. A soft and strange calling seemed to grow inside of her belly and she was feeling like tickles in her mind, so she stood closer to the roses and frowned.

"What?" she whispered when she felt more than she heard indistinctive whispers. She could sense that the flowers wanted to show her something, but she didn't understand what. "I don't…"

"Makoto is talking to the flowers!" a voice sang behind her.

It was Rina and Jun, and they were laughing at her.

"I wasn't –"

"You really thought they would answer you?" Rina laughed.

"Idiot, flowers don't talk!"

They laughed again before running toward the other children. Makoto reddened in embarrassment and anger when she saw them telling the others.

It didn't help that she now understood what the flowers wanted.

It didn't help that she couldn't do anything for the flowers either.

Sometimes, gifts were just hell.

O

"So?" Masashi asked anxiously. "What did she say?"

Sakura sighed.

"Apparently the other children are annoying her because of something that happened in the Rose Garden."

"What happened?"

"She didn't want to tell me."

"Just when she found herself friends."

"What are you doing?"

"Calling her teacher about that. She should have stopped it!"

"Please, Masashi, they're only kids. What do you want her to do?"

"I don't care! Makoto wouldn't hurt a soul, and she's in tears right now!"

"She doesn't want us to make a fuss."

"But…"

"I'll make her cookies, and we'll keep her home tomorrow. They're kids, it'll be forgotten soon."

Not liking it one bit, Masashi crossed his arms, sighed and went into the kitchen after his wife. But before he could protest, Sakura asked him a question.

"Did you talk to Hiroshi?"

"Yes," he answered, even more annoyed now. "He just came back yesterday. She moved."

"Where?"

"Apparently to England, a few months ago."

"With the girl?"

"Of course with her. Nobody had news about them. But he could learn a thing or two about Minako while talking to the neighbors. The mother's cousin doesn't want to talk with him when she has him on the phone. She hangs up every time."

"And what about his daughter? Is she well?"

"Apparently. She loves playing outside and watching TV, she hates mushrooms and is quiet and well mannered but not at all shy, and highly resourceful. What? He doesn't know her, he was happy to learn those little facts about her."

"He would know her if he hadn't left her. What? You know I'm right. You would never have abandoned Mako, no matter the circumstances."

Since Masashi couldn't contradict her, he shook his head.

"We can't judge him."

"Hey, I like him, I find him nice enough. But… he was _wrong_, and he doesn't seem to want to face the consequences!"

"He's looking for her."

"If he was really ready to take responsibility for his choices, he would have gone to see his daughter before they disappeared to the other end of the world. I think he's still too scared, too coward maybe."

"I'm thirsty," a little broken voice said behind them.

Masashi turned quickly and took his little girl in his arms.

"Hey, Mako. A beautiful little princess like you shouldn't cry like that. Here, drink. Better?"

The child sniffed and nodded as her father kissed her forehead.

"You know what? When someone teases you, you should leave them alone, because you're smarter than them. But if someone really tries to hurt you, or someone close to you, if it's about something that really matters to you, then you should hurt them back, because _nobody_ has the right to hurt other people."

"Masashi!"

"What?"

His wife shook her head.

"_I _think that it's time that I teach Makoto how to cook."

"Oh! Do you hear that? Are you big enough?"

"Yes, I am! I am!"

O

**Tokyo**

"I don't know," Risa sighed while finishing putting the toys away. "It's clear now that she's gifted. Dad said she obviously could have a strong link with the Kami."

"Of course he would say that," Takashi answered somberly.

"Oh please. You know Rei _is _different."

"It became clear when she told me where my keys were, or when she told us that Yamatoshi died even before they told his wife."

Risa nodded.

"You were right, you know. I can't teach her how to harness her sixth sense. I'm far from having the knowledge, and far from her level. She'll have to be trained by my father, at the temple."

"You mean she'll work as a miko?"

"It was your idea to ask a priest to teach her how to control it. I thought that, with time, she could just smother her gifts and live without using them but… you were right."

"All knowledge or gift has to be harnessed. That was what my mother always said. I don't really like the fact that little Rei will have to be trained by your father though."

"Please, he's not that bad."

He ignored her words and nodded toward a new painting.

"I like that new one."

"I bought it yesterday, it was in the gallery. It was part of an exposition by an artist I really like."

"What is his name?"

"Atsu Kishimoto. He loves to paint lakes and mountains. He lives in the country. He's a little out of it, but is really smart and talented. Rei liked him, I never saw her react so warmly to a stranger before."

"Really? It's strange."

"She may have sensed something coming from him…"

"Hmm. Maybe. I'm going to drink something."

"Wait, wait," Risa said with a little smile as she went toward her husband to help him with his tie. "Here."

"Thanks. I'm pretty sure at least one journalist is going to ask me something about your absence."

"Don't look at me, you know I hate these stupid galas, and I don't really like being the loving and inutile wife of the new senator."

Takashi smiled a little.

"Stubborn woman."

"That I am."

He sighed and put his jacket on, before looking back at her seriously. He hesitated for a few seconds, studying her pale face, her thin body.

"Risa, are you well?"

"I'm fine."

"Are you sure? I could stay…"

"No," she answered strongly. "I know how all this is important to you, I know that it has always been your dream. You didn't become senator two years ago because of me. If only that heart could be stronger…"

"I don't know a heart stronger than yours."

"I… don't be like that."

"How?"

She shook her head and smiled sadly.

"It's like we were twenty again."

"I'm sorry if I seem distant lately. Or… if I seem to neglect you or little Rei."

"Please. We both know you aren't neglecting anything. You would already have gone so far if you hadn't stayed at home so often because of me."

"Don't say that."

"And now that the symptoms are beginning again…"

"You'll be fine."

"You can't know that, Takashi."

"You'll be fine, it can't be otherwise."

"And I'm the stubborn one? You can be so righteous," she smiled. "I'm fine. Takashi, don't forget what you promised me the last time. You have to finish what you have begun, you have to accomplish your dreams because it's what you always wanted, you worked too hard to let it go now. I know you're going to help a lot of people in your career."

"You're an idealist, Risa."

"Maybe. You can go shine in front of all your sharks now."

"Nice. Little Rei seems calm tonight, but are you sure you don't want me to call Nana? She could watch over her and you could rest."

"No, I want Rei to be with me tonight." She quickly chased the sadness that suddenly took over her mind and smiled. "You should stop calling her little. She's growing up."

"She still seems so little. Well, apart from her temper, of course."

"I'm pretty sure that she took it from you when you spent so much time with her two years ago."

Takashi only raised an eyebrow.

"I'll be late, I have to go."

She nodded.

"Good luck."

"See you later."

He went toward the living room and froze when he saw his young daughter kneeling in front of the fireplace. She was looking into the flames with fascination, and she was really too close to the fire for his liking.

"Rei?"

She didn't move and kept looking into the fire with childish adoration and curiosity. Risa and Takashi had noticed a long time ago her interest for the dangerous element, but they had thought that it would past with time.

They had quickly understood that it _wouldn't _pass.

"Rei," he called again more strongly as he took her under the arms to carry her a few meters away. "What did I say about the fireplace?"

"Not to go too close to it, because it's too warm? But I like it when it's too warm, papa."

"Don't get close to it. I'm leaving for my work."

"Again?" she pouted.

"Yes. Are you going to be a good girl?"

"Yes."

"And take good care of mama?"

"Yes!"

"Alright. I think she wants to read with you."

"Princess Kaguya?"

"Maybe."

"Yes!"

"Go. Rei, do not run!"

"Okay!"

Takashi shook his head. She was growing up fast, Risa was right, and lately he was really too occupied with work and too often away to see it.

Sometimes, he wondered if he shouldn't forget about his dreams and stay at home with the love of his life and their fiery child. But then, he remembered the promises he had made to his late mother, and to Risa herself.

And Takashi always kept his promises.

O

**Tokyo**

"You shouldn't have told him!"

"Why?"

"It's…"

"You know it's true!"

"It's crazy, Kasumi! That's what it is! I love him, he's really a surprising boy, but he's not extraordinary!"

"He is! Why can't you see that, Daiki? I saw it in my dreams!"

"Oh, please!" He sighed, shook his head, tried to calm himself. "You should see doctor Sumato."

"I'm not crazy!" she answered, outraged. "You are if you really think I'm going to go see that shrink! Mamoru _is_ special, and he has a destiny, he's going to help people!"

"Of course he will, our son has a good heart, he's altruist, he's going to help people because that's the kind of persons he is! This has nothing to do with abilities or a destiny!"

"You're blind! You know he's special, you saw what he did to that bird! He helped it, he… he just held it against his chest and the bird was alright! And he helped _you_!"

"My insomnia wasn't cured by our little boy, and your nightmares weren't chased away by him!"

"Mom? Dad?"

The parents froze and fell silent, both deciding quietly to forget their fight for the time being.

"Mamoru! Are you ready to go to?"

"I am. Can I know where we're going now?"

Daiki nodded.

"Well, today you're a big boy, aren't you? Your eighth birthday, it's important, Mamo! So, Mom, you and I, we're going away for the week-end."

"Where?"

"That's a surprise!" Kasumi smiled. "Come on, everyone in the car, we're running late! The night is falling!"

"Don't forget the umbrella, it's raining quite a lot."

Daiki started the car and they began slowly leaving Tokyo.

"Come on, I want to know where we're going, please!" the boy excitedly.

"Well, you remember Seigi telling you about that ski station?"

"The one with the hot springs? We're going there?"

"Yes. And tonight, we'll give you your other gifts."

"That's awesome! Thanks, I love you!"

"Oh, we love you too, Mamoru. Don't forget your seatbelt, sweetheart."

**O**

"I… I don't remember…"

"I know, Mamoru. The doctors told me. My name is Ren Kusaka. Your father was my friend, we saw each other a lot. I'll take care of you, don't worry. You won't be alone."

"I don't remember you." Tears wet the boy's cheeks and the hospital white bed's sheets. "I d–don't remember _me _and… m–my parents… I… I'm sorry… I… why…"

Ren's heart tore at the sight of this boy he had always known so happy and carefree being so sad, pale and scared. With trembling fingers, he took a picture from his wallet and showed it to the sobbing child.

"That's my wife, Nami. She was a dear friend of your mom. My son, Seigi, is two years older than you, but you're friends anyway. And the little girl is Hina, my daughter, she's one year younger than you." He took another picture, and gave it to the boy. "Here. It's for you. The man is your father, Daiki Chiba, you have his smile, the woman is your mom, Kasumi. And the boy, it's you, Mamoru. You can keep it. You will see, I'm going to help you remember. I'm going to help you remember who they were, and who you are."

**O**


	10. 1995

O

**1995**

O

**Tokyo**

"Hi. Are you alone?"

The shy girl nodded.

"My mother is talking to the teacher."

"Really?" The other girl with the weird pigtails frowned. "Have you been bad?"

"No."

A big smile reappeared on the six-year-old face.

"Do you want to share my cake? My name is Usagi!"

Surprised, the shy one nodded and took the piece of chocolate cake offered.

"Thank you," she said, bowing lightly.

"It's nothing! My mother is late," Usagi explained, her mouth full, "surely because Shingo – that's my little brother, he's three, is hiding inside the house again. He loves to do that lately. Are you an only child?"

"Yes."

"You don't talk a lot."

"S- sorry."

"It's nothing!" Usagi smiled. "I talk a lot, my teacher says too much, but she's just mean! My mother talks a lot too, but dad and Shingo don't, they're weird like that. Have you been going to this school for a long time? I think I've never seen you before."

"Ami?"

"Sorry, my mother is calling me. Thank you again for the cake."

"It was nice talking with you!" Usagi exclaimed, jumping excitedly to her feet and making Ami reddened. "Let's do that again! We could play together next time?"

Ami nodded and went quickly to her mother before the girl began talking again.

"Who was that?"

"A girl named Usagi. She shared her cake with me."

"That's nice of her."

"She was nice," Ami confirmed quietly.

She didn't tell her mom the strange feeling of familiarity she had when she talked to the smiling girl.

O

**London**

Minako was a cute girl.

She knew this. She also knew that, even if she didn't make any effort in school because that was just plain _boring_, she was rather smart.

In spite of what everybody seemed to think, she had various interests that went beyond TV, karaoke and clothes. She loved sports. She loved running. She loved drawing and painting, even if she had stopped drawing what she saw in her dreams. Well, that wasn't totally true. She sketched a few things sometimes in a corner of her notebook at school or when she was in her bedroom, but she hid it from everybody, especially from her mother. It helped her to draw them, it kept the images from turning endlessly in her mind like she was crazy.

And, you know, maybe she _was_ crazy.

Minako loved music, too. With her mother absent so often, she could listen to the radio all she wanted. And because of a lot of reasons, she loved the sky, especially at night. She loved stars, and the only times she had loved going to the school library were when she had found good books on astronomy.

She could spend hours looking toward the stars, gazing at the moon and Venus, hoping that part of her dreams were true, and the others, all those horrible, horrible nightmares were just the dreams they had to be. And sometimes, when she felt really cold inside, or really scared, she closed her eyes, and wished really hard that one day this beautiful, kind and honorable blond queen with her twinkling eyes and her loving and brave husband would come for her, and would bring her back to this far away warm land where she belonged.

To _home_.

She didn't understand it, she knew it was surely her imagination. She knew she was a little bit different, she had often been told so in her life, even if she wished she was normal. But it was obvious that she couldn't be _this_ different. Life simply didn't exist on other planets.

Home was nowhere, she had no friends, no father and her mother was never there.

Sighing, Minako kept trying to fall asleep, ignoring her hunger and her headache. Noises coming from the living room told her that her mother entered their little flat. Minako left her room, checked quickly her appearance and went into the living room. It was rather late, almost nine, but she didn't know what else to do.

"Minako? What are you doing outside of bed so late? You know you have to go to bed after your bath." Kire sighed. She looked tired. "Work was hell today. And this stupid bus! I'm doing more hours this month. The bills just get higher and higher."

"The audition didn't work?"

"Do they ever?" her mother sarcastically replied. "Men, and their lies… Idiots, all of them. I hope you're doing well in school lately. I don't want to have to go see your teachers again. All that talk because I'm sometimes late and I missed this stupid play last month! I'm working and I have other things to do! What were you doing in it anyway?"

"Lead role."

"Lead? You?"

Minako shrugged.

"Miss Robins says I have amazing charisma. The other children were angry that she gave me the role."

"Well, idiots, all of them. Of course you're charismatic, with that aura… You must have gotten it from me. Can't be from your father anyway." Kire frowned at Minako. "So, why are you awake?" she asked her harshly. "I'm tired, I'm going to take a hot bath and go to sleep. I don't have time. I need to go to work early tomorrow, to earn money to buy you your food and to pay the rent, you know that."

"It's… well," Minako began quietly. She lowered her eyes on her trembling hands. She wasn't feeling well. "You forgot to leave something to eat for me."

"Ridiculous. You know how to reheat the food, you do it everyday!"

"But there is nothing left since yesterday morning, and… I had no more tickets for the school cafeteria today."

"What?"

Kire went to the kitchen and opened the fridge. Not only was there nothing to reheat in there, but the fridge was completely empty save for butter and orange juice.

"You didn't come home last night so I couldn't tell you... and I know we don't have the money for new tickets…"

As she closed the fridge, Kire looked strangely stunned. She looked at Minako with somber eyes just as the little girl's stomach grumbled loudly. Minako reddened and was ready to apologize when her mother sighed.

"Go get dressed."

Minako didn't understand, but she did what she was told anyway. She was surprised when her mother left the flat and asked her to follow her. Besides obligations like going to the doctor and buying clothes, or except when she needed Minako, Kire never went anywhere with her. In fact, Kire spent as little time as possible near her, often leaving her alone, sometimes even for two days including the night, and even once or twice for a full week-end, and sometimes Kire forget to warn her that she would not be coming home after work. But it was okay. Minako was used to it now, she wasn't like other kids her age, she wasn't scared, she was a big girl!

But even so, Minako liked it when Kire was there. And she was always happy to be in her company outside like that.

They silently walked for ten minutes before entering into a little café.

"Well, Kire, long time no see," an English woman ten years older than Minako's mother said. "Oh, and who is this pretty young lady with you?" she asked curiously.

"Minako. Can we have two bowls of soup and a coffee, please?" Kire asked with her awkward but nevertheless easily understandable English.

Minako sat down across her mother as the unknown woman raised an eyebrow. It was obvious she hadn't known Kire had a child, surprise and curiosity radiated from her.

"Soup? What she seems to need, that little one, is my specialty! One soup and one Helen's special coming up, and it's on the house."

Kire's eyes flared up but she didn't say anything. Minako knew it was because she really needed money lately, she had the tendency to buy new and pretty clothes and things with her silly friends even when she had no money to spare. And then, she would complain angrily about having to work more to avoid troubles and about how her life would be so much easier without Minako in it.

Anyway, Minako didn't know what an Helen's special was, but she frankly didn't care. She was so hungry she could have eaten a whole bowl of shitake mushrooms.

In reality, Helen was the best when it came to Breton crepes. The fact that Minako never had one before and the speed with which she swallowed it pushed the round woman to make her two more, another one with cheese and ham and one with chocolate. This time, under the stern gaze of Kire, Minako ate more slowly, being less hungry and really embarrassed about her sudden lack of manners.

Kire didn't say a word though, no reproach, which was new. Minako occupied herself with watching the other patrons, a drunk young man with a beard, two women discussing and a blond man of forty wearing jeans and a green jacket and gazing frequently toward Helen. He seemed to be a regular by the way Helen spoke to him, and Minako enjoyed seeing them interact.

Kire's voice made her jump.

"Finished?"

"Yes."

"Come on, we're leaving."

Minako nodded, being agreeably full. Kire said goodbye to Helen and the woman smiled brightly.

"Goodbye! And bring the girl back here on occasion, she's a cutie!"

Kire simply nodded. A lot of people noticed Minako the rare times they were out together, it was frequent. At school, Minako never really had friends, but when she was on a stage or when she had to work in a group, even if people found her weird, they couldn't help but listen to her and notice her. Kire had seen it too, Minako knew. That was why she brought her with her when she was looking for a job or sometimes when she went to auditions, and even when she had to tell the landlord that they were going to need more time to pay the rent again.

And it worked well, because Minako knew when to smile, or how to speak to people, or how to use her good manners and aura. It didn't hurt that she could "guess" others' emotions to know exactly how to act.

She loved it when Kire took her with her, even if it was only for a few minutes or an hour, even if it wasn't exactly to be with her. A least they were spending time together. And in these moments, having given birth to her didn't seem to anger or disgust Kire that much.

Minako was almost at the café's door when she noticed the man looking toward Helen again with his big baby blue eyes, and she turned on her feet and quickly went to the bar to awkwardly climb on a stool. She waited until Helen drew curiously near her.

"The man in green, he likes you very very much," she whispered with a smile and in near fluent English to the stunned woman.

She giggled when she saw Helen redden and ran toward her mother. They walked for a few minutes in their usual silence until Kire shook her head.

"I thought I told you not to do _that _anymore, Minako."

"Sorry," the girl whispered.

Her mother didn't say another word to her on the way back, but Minako went to bed rather happily that night.

O

**Tokyo**

"Mama?" the little girl asked quietly while standing near her mother hospital's bed.

"Hey, my baby. Don't be scared, it's alright."

It was far from alright. Risa Hino had never felt so weak before, and she surely looked scary to her young daughter. The machines had to be impressive for the young child too.

With the little strength she still possessed, Risa asked the nurse to leave them alone. The woman, a sad look in her eyes, nodded and left, knowing that mother and child needed this moment now. They couldn't wait, Risa had too little time left.

"Mama, can we go home now?"

Risa smiled a little. Rei was stubborn enough to ignore what her heart already told her. She was a strong little thing, Risa was sure she would be alright without her. But it broke her heart to know that she would never see her grow up, see her become a woman, see what she would become, what she would do. Who would teach her how to put make-up on? Who would explain to her these things that only a woman can explain to a girl? Who would protect her, read to her, listen to her as she related her day, erase her tears after boy troubles?

"Mama?"

"Mama is very tired, my love. But it's going to be okay, you'll see."

"Do you want me to read a story to you?"

"No, but it's very nice of you to ask. I have some things to tell you."

"Okay."

"Come here, beside me."

"Am I hurting you?"

"No, of course not. You could never hurt me. You remember, when we talked about how mama is very tired and sick and –"

"I don't want you to die!"

"I know! I know. And I don't want to leave, but, sweetie, sometimes, life is like that. But I want you to know a few things, okay?" Risa smiled to her scared daughter, waited until Rei controlled her tears again. "I love you so much, you know that?"

"I love you too, mama."

O

"Where is Mister Hino?"

"We called him a few times, but he doesn't answer his phone," another nurse said anxiously, "nor does his assistant. Apparently there is a press conference right now, at the other end of the city. He told us to call him no matter the time but he surely doesn't have his phone with him right now."

"But even if we do reach him… She doesn't have much time left."

"I know!"

"Where is the girl?"

"In the hallway. The poor thing is crying for her father."

O

**Kyoto**

"Do you like the city, Mamoru?"

"Yes. It's beautiful. The hotel is, too."

Nami Kusaka smiled.

"I'm glad you like it. I was born here, you know. It's there that I met your mother for the first time."

"Really?"

"Yes. We were going to the same university."

"Oh."

"Seigi, please, calm down! Your sister is still in the bathroom."

"But, mom! I want to go play outside! I'm not a baby, y'know!"

"You can go in the garden, but that's all!"

"Mamo, you're coming?"

The boy raised his eyes toward his godmother, and he went after his friend only when she nodded.

Mamoru and Seigi were growing up to become very different men. Since the accident, Mamoru was always calm, thoughtful, mature, while the other boy had kept his active and slightly revolted personality. Seigi and Hina still found it hard that their long time friend had lost his memories of their common past and was because of that a little different than the child he had been.

Nami smiled sadly. At least, he was well, that had been a miracle in itself. The only trouble they had with him was his nightmares which had come back after the accident, but the boy didn't want to talk about them, and they didn't push him. He was highly respectful, he never did a thing that he thought would bother them. He was well mannered, hard working, discreet.

Life had been hard on him already, but Nami was hopeful.

Everything would be alright now.

O

**Tokyo**

"Say hello to your grandfather, Rei."

The little girl didn't raise her eyes toward the old man in priest's robes.

"Hello."

"Hello, Rei. My, my, you have a lot of things with you, haven't you?"

Takashi silently sighed when his daughter didn't answer. He had known it would be difficult. But he couldn't see another solution. With the consequences of Risa's death, his ascending career, and the sadness in Rei that only seemed to enhance her gifts, he had understood that he had to do something. He had trouble dealing with the loss of his wife, and he couldn't help little Rei when he couldn't help himself with his grief. It broke his heart to see the child so withdrawn, as it broke his heart to see her leave their home, but he had understood these last few months that he couldn't be the father she needed, not until he found peace again at least.

"It's going to be fine, Rei," he said in a voice that sounded more gruff than reassuring. "I'll come see you, and you'll come to the house for a few days when you and I have the time."

"But I want to come home with you."

"You know it's not possible anymore. I work too much."

The girl frowned, keeping the tears from falling. She crossed her arms, and Takashi noticed she really looked like both Risa and himself with that expression on her round face. His heart constricted.

"Rei, I have to work a lot, but your grandfather will care for you very well. Your mother and I trusted him to do so. He will teach you many things, you'll see."

"I can learn with you, papa!"

Takashi knew she couldn't understand. Not at such a young age, not when she was still so angry with her mother's death. He couldn't teach her certain things, things he didn't understand, and it really hurt the man and the father in him.

"I'll come see you this week-end. Be a good girl, okay?"

Rei didn't say anything as he put a hand on her shoulder. He hesitated but decided against a hug. They hadn't had this kind of contacts these last months, and he didn't know how the girl would take it. She seemed so fragile since Risa's passing.

As he left to go back to his black car, a few thoughts crossed his tired mind.

He knew without having to look back that his daughter had finally let the tears fall, and in his heart, despite his thoughts on the old man, he knew that the priest would find a way to erase them.

He knew that the life they had dreamed for their baby when they had imagined her and when they had finally held her for the first time had really been just that, a dream. Because life was cruel, and hope was useless.

And he knew, because Rei really was too much like him, that his daughter would hate him for his weaknesses in the years to come.

But he had made promises, and he would keep them.

And, as the car took him away from his only child, he thought that he turned out to be an horrible father, and that hurt him as much as the loss of his dear wife.

Love was really a painful thing.

O


	11. 1996

**O**

**1996**

**O**

**London**

Minako was waiting.

She did a lot of that.

This afternoon, her mother was late to pick her up from school. It had a strict policy since a kid had nearly gotten kidnapped the month before. When the children finished school at three or after, when there was no more schoolbus, they had to be picked up by an adult of their family to go home.

That was one of these days, and Kire was late. Really _really _late.

Again.

Teachers had begun to notice, Minako had to smile brightly and lie smartly about an unwanted shift. In truth, she was convinced that her mother had simply forgotten about her. After all, that wouldn't be a first. She would be somewhere, shopping, flirting or doing whatever.

Minako wasn't a patient girl by nature but she had learnt. Her teacher was still inside, but she kept an eye on the girl anyway. Minako was the last one, besides the kids who were in clubs.

"Are you cold? February is not really a warm month."

Minako started and raised her eyes to see a blond woman near her. She nodded.

"But it's okay. My mom will be here soon."

"You're Minako, aren't you?"

Surprised, the seven-year-old nodded again, but it wasn't as if this school were full of Japanese kids. She, too, knew who Mrs Brighton was. The pianist who gave music lessons after school. Minako had heard her play before, while she had waited for her mother, and she had been mesmerized. But she was already spending half the money Kire gave her for the breakfast in another club, so learning solfege and music was far from her reach at the moment. They didn't have the money, that was as simple as that, Minako knew this song very well.

"You're in the junior volley-ball club, right?"

"Yes," Minako answered rather proudly. "I love it. Normally I shouldn't be because I am not eight, but Mr Churton accepted me."

"I heard you're quite the player. Thanks to you the school could make it to the London public schools' championship for the first time in years one day. Maybe next year. And who knows? You could even become captain later."

"I could if I work hard enough," Minako confirmed with all the seriousness and maturity her young age permitted. "I really hope we'll win when I'm allowed to play with the team in the competition."

"With Jack and you in the team, I'm sure we could win."

"Thank you."

The bright smile on her face made the woman laugh. Minako liked volley, that was true, but she also loved how her teammates seemed to accept her and even befriend her during training, and how her coach and everybody congratulated her on her skills and efforts. It had never happened before volley-ball, and she rather liked the attention and the feeling that she might not be the incapable she had always thought she was.

"Your mom must be held at her job. And I have time myself, my pupil cancelled his lesson. Are you interested in music?"

"I don't know very much about it. I like to listen to it though."

"You know, Jeremy's dad already paid this semester's lessons, but he finally seems to be more interested in tennis. And once the lessons are paid, there's no coming back."

"Too bad for him, then."

"Err, yes. Well, I have no pupil for lessons already paid, and you apparently have free time, so…"

Minako had the feeling she was supposed to say something right now, but, people being rarely interested in talking with her, she was quickly at a loss to what to say when it wasn't all about pleasantries. She stopped herself from blushing and smiled that little cute smile that her mother was so satisfied to see and that made her teacher softened.

"So we both have free time."

Mrs Brighton laughed. It was a warm laugh, amused and true, not mocking, and Minako liked it. She quietly waited, observing how the wrinkles around the woman's eyes seemed to disappear with her grin.

"What I mean, Minako, is that as we indeed both have free time, why don't you come inside with me until your mother comes? I could teach you a little about music, too."

"You want to teach me? But..."

"Your coach says you're an amazing learner, and that you're hard working, stubborn and quite bright."

Stunned, Minako blinked silently and suddenly giggled.

"Miss Roberts would certainly not say that."

"Maybe you're the kind of people that shows the best of themselves only for things they like? Well, anyway, I'll be in the music room. Don't catch a cold."

Minako watched her go inside and hesitated. The idea of learning how to play music was really appealing, she had always dreamed of it. But Mrs Brighton's proposition almost sounded like charity. And Minako thought that Kire was right about charity, she didn't like pity, and she certainly didn't like being seen as weak or helpless, and charity almost always implied at least one of the three.

But her pride didn't help her forget about the cold, or the fact that almost an hour had passed without a sign of her mother, it didn't help her bury her envy to learn music.

It was good, she decided as she felt a delicious warmness in her stomach, to be not only seen or noticed, but also recognized and _wanted_.

And that was how Minako's mind worked anyway, always guided by her feelings and her analysis of the situation, always by her instinct.

She smiled, jumped to her feet, and hurried after her new teacher.

"Mrs Brighton!"

"Yes?"

"If you teach me how to play music, then I could teach you how to say a few things in Japanese. Would you like that?"

"Well, Minako, I would certainly love that. We have a deal, then?"

"Deal."

O

**Tokyo**

"What were you doing?"

"Nothing," the four-year-old boy answered, his voice taciturne, as always.

His sister frowned, following him outside the school's grounds.

"How was your day? Mine was great! We had cake this afternoon, it was so good! And Naru and the girls and me we are going to play in the arcade tomorrow after school."

"Great."

Behind him, the girl watched him worriedly. Shingo and Usagi weren't alike at all, but Usagi was his big sister and she had to protect him. It was true he was a quiet boy, but he never was unhappy, not like that, and he talked to her after school usually. Well, not a lot, but a little.

"Did you and Jun had fun today?"

The boy shrugged. The girl smiled that goofy smile of hers and went to him.

"We could go play in the park a little? Mom and dad wouldn't mind! It's so hot anyway, don't you love summer? Come on, we're going!"

"No, thanks."

"You can talk to me, you know, I'm your sister!"

Shingo stopped walking, annoyed when the girl put herself on his way. Her shining eyes and big smile forced him to turn his eyes toward a nearby tree. He knew full well that Usagi's positivism was highly contagious.

"It was just a bad day."

"Why?"

"It doesn't matter."

"Yes, it does!"

"No!"

"Yes!"

Shingo gritted his teeth and looked away again, and his sister frowned.

"You shouldn't be sad, I'm sure everything will be better soon."

"You don't know that."

"Yes, I do."

"You're annoying!"

"You're a brat!"

The children walked toward their home again, silently.

"Jun doesn't want to play with me anymore."

"What? Why?"

"He says Naoki is the coolest."

"Naoki? The one with red hair? He's not cooler than you! You're the best! Wait, I'll tell him!"

"No! I'm not a baby!"

"Fine!"

After a while, Usagi shrugged.

"You know, you'll have other friends soon. Emiko finds you awesome."

"What?" Shingo mumbled, reddening. Emiko was the smartest girl of his class. "No way."

"Naru told me so, and she doesn't lie! Anyway, you'll see tomorrow. I'm sure it'll be a great day."

The smile on his sister's face almost made him smile but he quickly frowned again, hiding the fact. A piece of cake found itself in front of his nose suddenly.

"Here, I hid that for you to eat. It's strawberry, your favorite!"

At that, and knowing what it cost Usagi not to eat it and to give it to him, Shingo couldn't' help but grin.

There was just something about his sister, something that made smiles appear and hearts lighter.

Something warm.

O

Rei left the school, feeling a little weird.

Her granddad said that her gifts were special, and that she would be able to master them with time. It didn't really help, not when she was in this school, with the nuns and the other girls that always were looking at her weirdly since they had learned that she was living in a Shinto shrine and training as a miko.

In Rei's humble opinion, they all were idiots, so in a way, that wouldn't be so bad, if only…

If only it didn't hurt that much.

She liked school, liked learning and going home with good marks, but she thought that, maybe, it could be funnier with friends to share her lunch or her free time with. Not that she _needed_ them! Rei didn't need anybody, she was strong, she was smart, and then again she preferred the quietness of the shrine to the noise of a group of giggling girls.

And why giggle every time a boy crossed their path, anyway? What a stupid thing to do!

Rei sighed, looking toward the sky, wondering…

She missed her mom. Very much. At the simple thought, tears made her eyes burn, but she wouldn't cry. Granddad was always saying that laugh was a far better way to honor the dead than tears. He was a good man, strong, gifted, patient, intelligent. Everyday he helped people, everyday he taught her something useful.

He was so unlike…

At the thought of her father, Rei scowled. After he had left her at the shrine the year before, he had tried to call her once a week, but because she never answered, he had stopped. Now, he only called once a month, and didn't try anymore to invite her for week-ends or to buy her things. It was better, she didn't need anything from the man, no matter what her grandfather said.

The sight of the shrine, her home, partly lifted her dark mood. Here, she wasn't considered as weird. Here, her strange abilities of precognition were seen as gifts from the Kami, and she was loved, respected even. She could help people, and even play with the younger children who were often bored when their parents prayed or consulted the priests.

Who needed friends their age anyway? Especially when they were stupid, narrow minded and giggling girls who only thought about karaoke, pop idols, the prettier toys and the boys from St. Patrick's school.

"Rei, you're here!"

The girl smiled and nodded.

"Hey, granddad. What are you doing up here?"

"Ha! It seems that two baby crows were abandoned by their mother. Come here, you're going to help me!"

"Are they alright?"

"It seems so, yes."

"Be careful, you could fall."

"Rei, my girl, I'm not that old!" the man laughed. "Can you catch them?"

Carefully, Rei took the bundle. The priest had put the young crows in an old blanket, and the girl looked curiously inside. She smiled upon seeing their bright, black eyes.

"Hi," she whispered.

"So, what do you say?" her granddad jovially asked as he climbed down. "Ready to take care of them?"

"M…me?"

"Of course, you, Rei! They'll need someone to watch over them and give them something to eat. We can't abandon them, can we?"

No, they certainly couldn't. They had lost their mom, and now they needed someone to care for them, like her grandfather cared for Rei.

"I'll take care of them."

O

"How was your day? Usagi, stop watching TV and come here!"

"Yes, mom!"

Ikuko shook her head with a big smile and put plates on the table. Kenji only nodded.

"Great," he answered, smiling at his son who showed him his painting. "I have big news!"

"You're an editor!"

"That I am!"

The ecstatic cry of their mother made both the kids jumped.

"Finally! Oh, we've waited so many years for that! We have to celebrate! Tomorrow I'll –"

"Alright," Kenji said before his wife began a long and excited monologue, "we'll celebrate tomorrow, I have a day off!"

"Bravo, dad!"

"Yeah, you're the best, daddy!"

"Thanks, children!"

"So, explain all that to us!"

"Before that and before I forget, I heard a few things about a Sugao Saitou, he was a friend of yours, wasn't he?"

"Yes, when we were in school. Oh, he was quite the character! Fun, extravagant and quite smart, even if people tended to ignore it. They're so obsessed with appearances! Last I heard he was a chronicler for a music magazine."

"He still is, sadly. I heard a few guys say that he's the oldest one in the team, years passed and he's the only one that hasn't been promoted to full fledge journalist. He apparently has crazy ideas about subjects for his articles, or something like that."

"Oh, no! He was such a good man! You know, he has a heart in gold, and he's quite the genius when it comes to journalism and business! He could see potential and identify it in no time in people he barely knew! I can't believe nobody's giving him opportunities!"

"I'm sure he'll be fine," Kenji assured, seeing the good mood of his wife being chased away.

"Oh, he will! That he will! He's a fighter, you know! Come on, eat! Tell us all about your day!"

O

**London**

Minako opened the door widely, smiling despite the fact that she was still shivering. Winter had come quickly this year, but she didn't care, she loved the snow.

She heard the TV and went toward the living room quietly. She hadn't known her mother would be home so soon. If she had been aware, Minako would never had played in the snow before going home after the lesson. After school hours meant activities for her. Monday and Tuesday, volleyball, as usual, and she hoped they'd win the championship this year. Wednesday and Friday, she was with Mrs Bright, who was teaching her music against Japanese lessons again this year, because Minako was a natural, it seemed. And Thursday, it was theater and dance, like that day. It meant she was even later than usual.

Her mother didn't mind usually, because she worked late all week long since the beginning of October. It was a relief, really, Minako didn't have to lie anymore to cover her lateness, and she went home thanks to the new double school bus services, one after school, another one when the clubs ended. That also meant that Kire didn't even know about her daughter's hobbies, and about the fact that she went back home only after them.

"Hello, mom."

"Hey, Minako. What do you want?"

"Nothing," Minako said quietly.

Kire turned her eyes toward her, and her gaze widened.

"You're soaked! Were you outside? I didn't hear you leave!" She stood up and frowned when she saw the puddle at Minako's feet. "Really, you're not a baby anymore, you should be intelligent and mature enough to know better! Look at the mess! Since when do you go out at this hour without asking me?"

"I… I just came back from school, mom. The bus dropped me off half an hour ago. I just wanted to watch the snow fall."

"You mean you weren't in your room, doing… whatever you always do in there?"

Minako lowered her eyes, her heart strangely heavy in her chest.

"No, I wasn't."

"Well, don't stand there! Go to the bathroom to have a shower before you fall sick, you silly girl!"

In her haste to do so, Minako slipped and almost fell, before steadying herself and walking more calmly toward the tiny bathroom.

"Be careful! Sometimes I wonder if you're able to do _anything _right!"

"I'm sorry."

Minako quickly undressed herself and went under the hot stream. She could feel her joy melt away, and wondered if she was really this weak.

Maybe her mother was right. Maybe she was flawed, and stupid, after all it was a fact that she was different and awkward. It wasn't because she was good at acting and hiding everything inside of herself that she didn't feel it, feel _them_. The nightmares that were lurking in the shadows, all those weird thoughts, those weird… things she could do, that she _knew_.

Was abnormality really always linked to evil?

Was she…

"I'm not bad. I can't be."

The whisper was swallowed by the water, and she glanced toward the sky outside. The snow was still falling. Was her little snowman still there? Alone, and cold, at the mercy of everything?

Would she find him tomorrow morning on her way to school, waiting for her?

At least, if he happened to be missing, she would notice right away, that was for sure.

And if Minako disappeared, right here, right now, who would notice?

Who would care?

O


	12. 1997

O

**1997**

O

**London**

Minako raised her head when she heard her mother coming in. Immediately it hit her, this bitter cold hidden in the burning storm she could detect in the dark sea of feelings her mother was at the time projecting.

She tensed, worried and intimidated, and put her book away timidly. Something wasn't right, she had never felt such strong emotions coming from her mom before, she even rarely felt that kind of feelings in people (fortunately).

That deep, terrible pain. The humiliation. The tears and sobs that weren't there but that were, somehow, right _here_, somewhere where only Minako could understand it, _sense_ it.

Kire silently went toward the fridge and took a bottle of water before coming back in the room. She was pale, and her eyes were dark. There was a weird red mark forming on the side of her face, and a few other ones on her throat looked painful.

"Mom?" Minako whispered quietly.

"I know, I'm early. It happens."

The eight year old girl didn't really care about the hour but, driven by the anxious fear in her heart, she stood up and watched her mother, studiying with dread what she felt coming from her in burning waves.

"Is –"

"What do you think about going back to Japan, huh, Minako?"

"Japan?" Minako asked, confused. "Really? But…"

"Tokyo. Tokyo sounds good, huh? You know, I saved a little money, the trip won't be a problem. You'll begin to pack tomorrow morning."

"But, mom, there's school."

"I'll call them. We're leaving at the end of the week anyway. Won't it be great, to see your country again?"

Minako didn't really care. Nothing was keeping her there anyway, no real friend, nothing. Well, aside from her volleyball team and her music lessons. As for going back to Japan, why not? In her mind England and Japan were both great.

"Yes," she answered softly anyway, because something in her mother's eyes was really dark right now, and her voice seemed way too soft.

"Go have a shower, I'm going to fix something for us to eat."

Minako nodded but, as her mother turned toward the kitchen, she couldn't help but take hold of the woman's cold fingers, lightly. Kire turned her head and lowered her eyes on her, meeting her daughter's worried gaze.

"Someone hurt you, mom?"

Something stopped. Maybe Kire's movements, maybe her breathing, or her heart even. Minako felt it, she had never sensed that before, never in anybody, but she felt it then, the broken something there, right there, hidden within the beautiful but sad woman that was her mother. The child she was didn't fully understand it at the moment, but an hidden part of her mind did, and her heart aged a little more.

A strange, surprising and unprecedented smile touched Kire's lips, as her eyes darkened a little more, as the marks on her face and throat were turning a light bluish purple.

"Don't worry about that, Minako, everything is fine. I told you to do something, didn't I? Go."

Minako was still uneasy, she wanted to do something to ease the darkness and coldness she could still feel coming from her mother, something to help her, to heal maybe. She didn't like it, didn't like the thought that people could hurt people like that, didn't understand it even if she had known that fact for years.

"I could…"

She didn't know what to try, what to do, not even what to _say_.

"No, Minako, you can't," Kire quietly told her, and there was something incredibly soft in her voice, impossibly tender in her eyes suddenly. "But it's okay, you know."

The long fingers tightened a second around Minako's ones, two seconds, three maybe.

And they let go.

O

**Okinawa**

"Yeah, things are good lately, huh?"

"I suppose," Hiroshi sighed.

Masashi Kino rolled his eyes. His assistant and friend was really too taciturn lately, it was getting annoying.

"So, it's been a while now. Not ready to go back?"

"Back were?" Hiroshi asked, still working on the wood piece he was creating.

"Home."

"Home? I'm home."

"No, I mean going back to Iwate. That's where your friends are, isn't it?"

"Oh, you know, I kind of lost contact through the years. It's difficult, with the distance."

"Speaking of that, any news?"

"You know full well that I don't try anymore."

"Damn it, Hiro!"

"Please, stop! I'm satisfied that way, I chose years ago, and that's my life."

"If it's about money –"

"My debts will be old news in a year, maybe two. It's not about that. It's about my life. She doesn't need me, and, in a way, maybe I wasn't ready to be a dad."

"Bullshit!"

"This doesn't concern you anyway."

"Well, it does when you act that way."

"You're all about honesty, strength and justice, Masashi. But sometimes you're incapable of understanding others."

Masashi gritted his teeth, but he said nothing. Maybe Sakura had been right all along, and that was it. Hiroshi Lowell was a coward, a pure coward, a weak man, maybe he didn't care, after all, he had just liked an idea, the idea of having an offspring, end of story

Masashi would have let it go years ago if only he wasn't convinced of the heart inside of the coward, of the sadness.

"We're thinking of having another one."

"Play?"

"No!" Masashi shook his head. "I was talking about Sakura and I. A baby."

"What? Really? But Makoto is already eight, why now?"

"It's not now, exactly. We… we have trouble conceiving. We began to try three years ago, and we lost hope for a while, but we're going to see a doctor next week."

"Oh. I didn't know. I'm sorry."

Masashi shrugged, trying to hide his true feelings behind his smile.

"Well, who knows? With the help of Mother Science, we might even offer Makoto a little sister _and_ a little brother!"

"I'm sure the princess would love that!"

"That she would. She's a little fighter, that one, you know."

"I know," Hiroshi whispered.

And as always when the topic went up for more than three minutes, the two men silently agreed to stop talking about children, and they began planning their next work.

O

**Tokyo**

"You're really quiet, Ami."

"I'm sorry."

Ami smiled, even if she knew her mother wasn't fooled.

"Ami, are you angry?"

"No."

"I know you were hoping your father would be there this time."

"Well, he must have been occupied with his art," Ami quietly said, looking at the science award she had won that day. She went to put it on the shelf with the others. "It's nothing."

She could feel her mother looking at her, but Ami didn't turned.

"You seemed to like talking to that boy, with the glasses."

"He's quite bright," Ami answered, reddening. She rarely talked with other people her age, she was almost always alone at school, or at least during free periods. "And he was funny, too."

"You know, Ami, it's important for you to understand that it's a good thing to be bright."

"I know that."

"Having an open mind, a sharp mind, it could be the most important gift of all. I'm sure that, one day, it will make all the difference, for you, but also for a lot of people."

Ami turned to find the gaze of her mother being strangely clouded. Self-consciously, she brought her hands together and nodded.

"Maybe."

"I'm sure your father has forgotten it again. You know how he is!" Saeko smiled and went to her. "I'm really proud of you. One day, you'll do great things, Ami, greater than you can imagine, you'll become an amazing doctor."

"I will," Ami grinned.

And in that instant, Ami couldn't find something she desired more than to fulfill her mother's wishes.

Neither the woman nor the child could know at that time that the future of the younger one wasn't totally in their hands.

O

"How did you do it?"

"Yeah, what are you, a witch?"

"Come on, Rei, what are you?"

"Nothing," Rei answered nervously. She didn't like how the other girls were looking at her. "I did nothing and I am nothing. Let me go."

"How could you know that her necklace was under the carpet? We all looked for it for days! And you could tell like that!"

"She stole it and hid it, that's why she knew where it was!"

"I did not!" Rei retorted, scandalized.

"She couldn't, nobody can enter the music room besides the girls from the Senior League, like Ino. She must have lost it there."

"But they had looked in the room for it!"

"And Rei could tell _exactly _where it was!"

"She wanted to find that stupid necklace badly so I told her where it was, that's all! Now can I leave, please?" Rei asked, colder now.

But they weren't that impressed, even if two of them did look at her warily.

"Not until you tell us how you did it."

"I just knew where it was."

"She never showed her grandmother's necklace to anyone, how could you know how it looked?"

"She didn't know that! Only where it was!"

"That's because she's possessed! That's why! My cousin says she can predict things!"

"No kidding?" a bigger girl said sarcastically. "And I'm sure she can have tomorrow's math test's answers too!"

"Why not?"

"Don't be stupid!"

Rei quietly slipped past them as they seemed suddenly more interested in their debate than in her. She quickly left the school and half ran toward her bus stop.

All those idiots…!

Angrily kicking a little rock, she swore she would never open her mouth about that sort of feeling again in her life. Not at school anyway.

She didn't make it on purpose, she just knew things sometimes, and Ino looked so distraught! Rei liked her, Ino, even if she had never really talked to the twelve year old girl. Ino was pretty, and quiet, and she looked like the kind of people who would help people stand back up instead of pushing them back into the mud.

The sky was darkening, and Rei sighed.

Sometimes, she had the frightening feeling that the worse was to come.

It began raining. She hated rain.

It was really not her day.

O

Tokyo wasn't that different from London, Minako thought.

The Shiba Koen school wasn't that different either. She could even play volleyball again, even if she wasn't captain… yet. The school had an old piano, and Minako found the time to play a little when she was free, and she even tried to write her own melody now. It was rather fun, and it kept her occupied while she waited for her mother.

That had not changed either.

Kire had quickly found a new waiter job. She was rather good at it, and her looks didn't hurt. The flat they lived in was really modest, but it was enough. Minako had seen her aunt again, Keiko had come to see them to say hello. She was living with a man now, and had her own little girl, Kanade, who was barely four.

Trying to adjust to Japanese culture again wasn't that easy. Minako, who always had difficulties to blend in, had trouble finding her place in her new world. She was seen as weird here too, because of her manners still too European, and many girls were jealous of her skills in sports, languages and of her looks.

But the child was used to it by now, and she didn't care. She had music, and she had volleyball, she could concentrate on that, and if she concentrated enough on that, then she didn't feel too lonely, sad or hurt. She could feel happy, even.

The teacher was kind of annoying. She kept asking Minako why her mother was so late half of the time. Lies didn't appease her, it seemed, Minako felt that even her smiles wouldn't put Mrs Yamashito's curiosity and uneasiness to rest.

"Well?" Kire asked, as she led her in the metro. "Your teacher mentioned a game or something like that, when she finally stopped lecturing me. Who is she, to judge me? I hope you did well."

"We won."

"Good. Losing is for the weak ones, Minako. For the cowards, and the idiots. Winners always have the upper hand, no matter what people say. They _always _dictate the rules. Remember that."

"Yes," Minako answered quietly.

She already knew this lesson very well, her mother always reminded her of it.

Losers were the dominated ones, the weak ones, and those were useless. Participating didn't count, and trying was for losers lacking the courage to face their defeat.

It was quite simple.

If you play, then play to win.

And Minako _always _played to win. She wasn't a loser, she wasn't weak, and she sure as hell wasn't below the rest of humanity, she was _determined_ to prove it.

"You won't be a loser, Minako. Understood?"

Nodding, her daughter couldn't help but swear to herself just that.

Not a loser… like her father, Minako guessed, she could almost hear the thought dancing in her mother's mind, with another, another that the girl could guess in Kire's eyes.

_Not a loser… like me._

O


	13. 1998

O

**1998**

O

**Okinawa**

"Mom, look at all those flowers!"

"I was sure you would love this place. It's so beautiful in spring."

"Akihiro! Come on, we're going to play!"

"Alright, alright, Makoto!"

"Don't exhaust yourself," Sakura teased.

The man laughed.

"I may be older than my little bro, and single, but eh, I'm a Kino, too!"

"Akihiro!"

"Yeah, yeah, alright! Ready?"

"I am!"

"Here I come, Pixie!"

Makoto rolled her eyes, not liking the nickname. She wasn't a baby anymore, but her uncle seemed not to notice it. Well, she was definitively going to prove it to him, she was getting really good at football!

O

"My, Mako, I must say that I'm impressed!"

"Thanks," the girl grinned proudly.

"You should taste her cooking too," Sakura smiled. "She's gifted."

"Mom!"

"What? It's true. Oh, the cake! I forgot it in the car! I'll be right back."

Makoto nodded as she watched a butterfly passed near her. She smiled, remembering when she was younger. She used to spend hours chasing them, running wildly, climbing trees, studying the butterflies' colors, comparing it to flowers she knew.

"So, how is the greatest niece in the world?"

"Fine," Makoto said. "How was Shanghai?"

"Oh, you know, as usual. Heard your mom finished to collaborate on that dictionary. What's next?"

"She's writing for that publishing house, you know? She writes their literature textbooks."

"And how's school?"

"As usual."

"You're working well?"

Makoto shrugged with an half embarrassed smile.

"It depends."

"And… you know, about what we talked last time, is it better?"

Sighing, Makoto checked that her mother was still out of earshot.

"Friends are not that important. But there's that boy, Aki, and there's still Fuko, we do things together outside of school sometimes, so it's fine. And I don't want you to tell mom and dad about it, they think I have a lot of friends. I don't want them to worry."

"Hey, I always keep your secrets!"

Makoto smiled happily, and looked toward the sky. She looked forward to say to her dad that she had won the football game! Masashi loved to have an excuse to tease his big brother, she knew.

"Here's the cake!"

Makoto took a piece of it.

Yes, even if sometimes she felt a little different for a reason unknown, life was rather good.

O

**Tokyo**

"Minako, I thought your mother was supposed to come see me half an hour ago?"

The girl smiled softly, ill at ease, and nodded.

"She told me she would be there."

"She was late to pick you up from the game yesterday, and Mr Tomihira told me that you didn't have money for your breakfast today. It's not the first time it happens."

Annoyed, Minako forced herself to stay calm. She didn't like where this was going. At all.

"I forgot it."

"You did?"

"Yes. You know I forgot my homework a lot too."

Her teacher sighed quietly, she looked kind of sad. No, it wasn't that. Minako's eyes narrowed.

She was sorry. For her?

Reddening with anger and shame, the girl lowered her eyes, waited for… _something_.

And for once, Kire Aino arrived right on time.

She raised an eyebrow as her eyes swept the scene, and Minako automatically held herself better.

"Hello. I'm sorry I'm late, my colleague was sick today."

She wasn't lying this time, but the teacher looked doubtful. A wave of anger washed over Minako, and she glared at the old woman without the adults noticing. She couldn't say that her mother was perfect, or even a good mother, but at least she took care of her, she hadn't abandoned her like her unknown father.

She was… she was all Minako had, and the girl loved her, she couldn't explain it, but she loved her mom, and she didn't like it when people thought bad of her.

So when Kire told her to stay in the hallway and wait until they finished discussing whatever the teacher wanted to talk about, Minako obeyed, but she stayed standing behind the door, her arms crossed and her anxiety reigned in.

Something somewhere in her mind was telling her that things would only get worse, and her inner sense was never wrong.

O

"Seigi is an idiot!"

Mamoru raised his head and frowned.

"What? What did he do this time, Hina?"

"Just because he's older, he thinks he's so intelligent! He spends his time playing his stupid games and laughing at others!"

"It will pass, he's not that bad," the boy answered calmly, closing his book.

Hina went to sit on the couch and sighed.

"At least, you're different, Mamoru. You're so nice, and mature."

Surprised, he smiled and shrugged.

"Thanks. Are you still angry?"

The girl sighed.

"No, but I'm bored."

"Want to go to the Crown? Motoki and Unazuki must be there, they're helping their dad since their mom is sick."

"Why not? Unazuki wanted to talk about something."

The twelve year old boy looked at the younger girl and raised an eyebrow.

"Really? I know she admires you, Motoki told me."

Hina blushed lightly.

"It's only because I'm two years older than her. Really, Unazuki is surprising, I'm sure she's more intelligent than me."

"Well, TA Academy _is_ one of the best schools. And she's doing well."

"You must be glad that Motoki wanted to go to a regular school, because you wouldn't have met him otherwise."

"Yeah."

"And to think that you two met because of that baby turtle of his!"

Mamoru smiled.

"Kamekichi."

"You're so different from each other."

"Really?"

"Yes. He's… well…"

"Motoki is a great friend."

"Of course! I know that! It's just… well, everyone admires you, and…"

"People are blind," Mamoru answered simply, but always with this hidden strength that characterized him. Hina sometimes wondered if he got it from his parents. She couldn't remember them, but surely they must have been amazing people. "Motoki has a good heart, and he's funny and quite intelligent."

"Mamoru?"

"Hmm?"

"You… know, what you said, two years ago, about… me…"

"What?"

"You… promised to always be by my side, and…"

"I promised, didn't I?" Mamoru said, and the eleven year old blushed under his warm and noble eyes.

She was an idiot. Of course he remembered! It was Mamoru, the kindest, brightest and most handsome boy she knew! He always kept his promises.

He was special, and one day, she would marry him.

She smiled happily and followed him, gazing at his face discreetly. The warm sun was playing with his dark hair, and for a second, she was sure that he wasn't ordinary.

Surely someone like him couldn't be like everybody else.

He always acted like he knew something they didn't, and even if he struggled with the death of his parents and his memories that came and went away again, he never showed it. He was always kind, quiet, secret.

Special.

O

She was growing up so fast. Looking more and more like Risa.

Takashi struggled to find something to say, but he was sure that either way Rei wouldn't be responsive. As the years passed, she became angrier, always resisting his presence, just like she refused his calls. So he had taken the habit to let his assistant call for him, with no more success, it seemed.

She even refused his invitations now. She hadn't set a foot in their house in two years. He wondered what she remembered of her time there, of _their_ time there, but he couldn't ask. He knew it wouldn't be wise, so he kept silent.

Now that he had successfully developed his political career, he had trouble finding the time to patiently wait at the shrine until she finally showed herself to him. Soon, he would have to find excuses to see her or talk with her, because invite her or go to the shrine to see her didn't work anymore. She kept rejecting his gifts too, and maybe he really didn't know anything about her anymore, but he tried.

It was true that he was clueless on what a nine year old little girl liked, and especially his daughter.

But he didn't regret his choices, even if the house was very empty without her in it. Rei was well cared for, and she had learnt to accept and control her gift. That was the most important of all, that was what Risa and Takashi had wanted for her.

"Aren't you hungry?"

Rei sighed, didn't look at him but took a bite or two. She didn't really seem at ease in the restaurant, but Takashi loved the food here and he was sure they wouldn't be bothered. Rei could choose what she wanted from the menu, Takashi didn't have to pick a sort of food because this establishment offered all kind.

"Your grandfather told me Deimos and Phobos are well. That you're taking good care of them."

At the mention of her pet crows, the girl did raise her head, and for a second, she didn't wear her cold mask of disdain.

"They're fine."

"Their names are the same as Mars' moons, aren't they? Why?"

Rei only shrugged. He kept eating, trying to guess what was in the girl's mind. She had lived the fact that he had left her in the care of her grandfather like an abandon. Her anger kept him from asking her to live again with him now that her gift was under control. It saddened him, but he knew it was because of him.

He had been too absent, too clumsy, too coward, and now they were strangers to each other.

And he was too proud to explain things to her, and what could he tell her, really?

He had never been good at this sort of things.

Risa would have known…

And so, he kept eating silently, and his proud and beautiful daughter did exactly the same.

O

"Do you understand, Minako?"

"No. I want to see my mom."

"You'll see her tomorrow, but for tonight you're going to come with us," the woman gently said. Her colleague nodded. "Everything is going to be fine."

"I want to go home, my mom is surely waiting for me."

"Your neighbors told us that your mother wasn't home these past three days."

Minako frowned, but inside she was quivering. Why had they asked questions to their neighbors? Because of her teacher? It was true Kire had missed the last three meetings and that Minako had had to lie about her absence, but still!

"She had to work," the girl answered with assurance. In truth, she had no idea where Kire had gone this time. "She works a lot."

"We know where she works, Minako. Who is looking after you when your mother is gone?"

"I know how to take care of myself."

"Does it happen a lot?"

"What?"

"You being alone in your appartement?"

How to answer to that one? It had always happened, the days because of work or rendez-vous or whatever, the odd nights because Kire liked to have fun with friends. But saying that would not play in her favor, that was for sure.

"Your mother will have to answer a few questions, and she will be really occupied tomorrow, it's for that reason that I'll take care of you for now."

Minako's eyes narrowed. It wasn't that she was feeling bad things coming from them, but she certainly didn't like at all what was going on there.

Social services.

It sounded lame. It sounded terrible even.

It sounded worrying, but Minako would never confess that.

So she kept standing tall, proudly, with her face neutral. She would not be seen as weak, never.

"We'll go to the Juuban Institute for young girls, you'll see, it's a beautiful place."

The name sounded like an elitist school, and that irked Minako to no end. She very well knew that it was all but that.

She hated it already.

O

Kire was _really _late.

Well, it wasn't entirely her fault, the day had been terrible, and her boss was an asshole. And then, she had run into an old friend and had gone to a café to chat with her. Minako could wait, after all, Kire needed her time off, the kid was a burden most of the time, mostly because Kire hated to have to think about her needs or about obligations. The girl's teacher was going to annoy her again about her neglectful way to raise her daughter just because she didn't want to go to those stupid meetings.

What the hell did she knew about their life anyway, that old hag?

The night was falling. She had noticed she had a few messages on her phone only half an hour before. It was the girl's teacher, asking her to come to the school as soon as possible. Why? Minako could go home alone just fine by herself, she did it almost every day! Kire had called to say she was on her way, but really, she was a little anxious to know what they wanted from her.

"Damn."

When she entered the hallway, she immediately saw the director and Minako's teacher in front of the classroom, and her heart constricted. Something wasn't right.

"Hello, sorry for being so late. What happened? Where's Minako?"

"Inside," the director said, rather coldly.

Kire glared at him and tried to walk past him, but the woman stopped her.

"Wait, Miss Aino, there's something you should know."

But Kire had seen them, the man and the woman with her daughter, and she immediately understood.

"What is going on here?"

The man heard her, and while his colleague led Minako away, he came toward her and began presenting himself and his reasons for being here. She barely heard what he said.

"How dare you?" she asked coldly. "She's my daughter, and I gave birth to her, _I _raised her alone! She's going to come home with me, you have no right!"

"We have the right, Miss Aino. It appears that you have difficulties taking care of her correctly, and our services have been asked to intervene."

"You can't take her!"

"I'm sorry, but we can and we do. Don't worry about Minako –"

"Who are you to tell me what to do? Let my girl go!"

"She'll sleep in the children's home for tonight, and you will have to present yourself at nine tomorrow at the office, here's the address."

He gave her a card, she nearly threw it back at his face. Humiliated, furious, shaking with anger, she turned to leave, not wasting her time and saliva on them, but she caught sight of Minako at the end of the hallway.

Her hand was in the woman's one, they were walking toward the parking lot. She had to have detected her or whatever Minako had always been able to do, because the girl turned her head to look at her, and Kire saw a spark of fear in her eyes, but, as she remarked proudly, she wasn't showing a bit of it.

Wait. And what about her things for tonight? What about her clothes, her change of uniform, her stupid old teddy bear? Oh, well, they surely would provide her with pajamas, those haughty idiots.

Minako kept her eyes in Kire's until she couldn't anymore. With them gone, Kire finally turned toward the exit and left the school to walk towards the bus stop, her stomach heavier with each step, and finally, she froze.

She had never noticed it before.

Her daughter had her eyes.

O


	14. 1999

O

**1999**

O

**Tokyo**

Rei couldn't care less what people thought of her, especially her classmates. They could laugh at her and be mean, Rei was strong enough to ignore it.

She knew she was better than them, she knew so much more about life than them, about things that they couldn't even _believe in_.

Phobos and Deimos came to welcome her home when she passed the torii, and she smiled at them. They were big now, even bigger than the other crows, and weirdly attached to her. Rei didn't explain it, but she was sure that they were special, not ordinary.

A little like her.

Rei's smile intensified when she felt presences around her. Two… no, three. They were hiding, but she walked toward her home without showing that she knew they were there. And suddenly, the three kids ran toward her, screaming happily, trying to scare her or catch her, or both.

Rei laughed and turned to welcome the young children in her arms.

"Hello Nana, Kanade, Riku!"

"Hi, miss Rei!"

"Hi, Rei!"

"Rei! How did you know we were there?"

"That's because she's magic," Nana explained with the biggest grin the three year old was capable of.

The two five year old nodded.

"Rei, you're so awesome!" sweet Kanade exclaimed.

Laughing, Rei shook her head.

"Not really."

"Can you play with us? Senji is there too with his mom, you know, and you promised you would teach us how to do origami!"

"Alright, let me change first."

"Yeah!"

With a smile, Rei turned to go toward the part of the shrine that held their living quarters, greeting a few people she knew on the way. She had a lot of work to do lately, because of the festival, but she'd do it later. Taking care of the kids was part of her job, and it was fun too.

She had always loved to spend time with them, unlike with people her age.

O

Minako sighed, brooding.

The other girls of the institute had come back from school too, and they were playing basketball in the yard. As always, she hadn't been invited.

They were more or less twenty to live under the care of the educators. Two or three had been raised here since early childhood. The majority were in the Institute temporarily, and a lot even went home to their parents every week-end. One day, their family would be judged capable of taking them back fully, and they would leave the children's home for good.

For Minako, things weren't like that at all. She had been living there for seven months, and it wasn't going to change. Something to do with the fact that a mother wasn't supposed to let her child alone for extended periods of time, and with neglect, and with irresponsability. Finally, Kire had given Minako up, abandoning all her parenting rights in front of the judge or whoever, papers signed and all that. Just like that.

It wasn't that Minako hadn't seen it coming. She was good at analyzing a situation, after all, but still, in a way, she _hadn't_ seen it coming. But after all, she could do without Kire, hadn't she always done without her? She had been able to dress herself very early on in her life, able to prepare herself her breakfast, prepare her things for school alone, dine alone, prepare herself for bed alone. She was sure she could properly take care of herself completely alone. Even the educators had noticed it, she was far more capable than her peers, so they rarely bothered with her anymore, she knew perfectly how to do things on her own.

Of course, the girls kind of knew that Minako's mother hadn't fought for her and had left her there gladly, and that the authorities had apparently been unable to find her estranged father. It didn't help. They despised Minako for a lot of reasons: her looks, her maturity, her way of intimidating them when they annoyed her, the way the adults left her be, the way she excelled in every activities they did. It had become worse when they had noticed the nightmares she had sometimes. A chance they couldn't know what she saw in them!

But Minako didn't really care. She was only counting the years now. One day she would leave, she would be _free_, and then she would show them all who she was. Kire, her classmates, her teachers, the girls from the children's home, all of them would see! She didn't know yet what she would do or become, and she didn't care, because something in her was sure of it, she _knew _that she was more than them, that she held in her hands something far greater than what they all thought they had and she hadn't. She didn't know what it was, she didn't understand why she was feeling different, but it had to be for a reason.

_It had to._

And one day, all would fall into place, and she would do things right, and show them, and especially her parents.

She might be an orphan with bad grades, more or less no friend, no home, no things, she might be weird, but she wasn't weak, she wasn't a loser, and she knew.

The world was vast, the universe was far more than that, and humanity didn't end with a bunch of stupid children. Minako could feel it every time she walked in the streets, some people were beautiful inside, strong, kind, warm. They weren't black or white, all of them were grey, even the girls Minako despised so much, she could see the potential there, in humans, the greatness they could carry together, along with all the anger, the malice, the evil, the violence, the egoism.

What choice did she have, but to believe with all her heart in that part of them that they ignored?

It was that, or drown into the darkness and let despair take over her.

Because she had nothing but that, this faith, and the hope that, one day, she would have her answers.

O

**Okinawa**

"When are you coming back?"

"In a week. Don't worry, we'll call you."

Masashi smiled to his daughter.

"And we'll bring you back one or two things from New York, of course."

Makoto nodded, and her parents kissed her goodbye.

"Have fun with your uncle."

"Yes, mom. Have fun, too."

"Of course."

"And take care of the baby."

Sakura smiled, a hand coming to her belly.

"You know, right now it's just a tiny little thing, and it's as safe as it could be."

Makoto smiled.

"I hope it'll grow up fast!"

"Thanks again for…" Masashi began, but his brother stopped him.

"Don't. I was saving this money for something that didn't work out, and you know what I think of money, the little we have is there to be spent. You both deserve this trip. Have fun."

"Okay. Thanks again. See you in a week, Mako!"

"See you, dad!"

O

**Tokyo**

"Here. You can sleep in Kanade's room, since she's at a friend's home."

Minako nodded and walked inside the room. It was pretty, a bed, a desk, a little couch with a coffee table and… a piano! She raised an eyebrow. It seems that the cousin she had never met was a lucky girl. The room wasn't decorated like other children's room that Minako had seen before. No posters and such, not many toys in sight. But Keiko was a net freak, so it wasn't really surprising, all was neatly put away in the closets.

Minako put the little bag that contained her things for the week-end on the bed and turned toward "aunt" Keiko. Technically she wasn't her aunt, but apparently that was how Minako had always called her, so... Her aunt seemed ill at ease, and Minako wondered why she had asked that she spend a week-end per month at her house, with her husband and her. Apparently, the authorities had just agreed, and Minako, who had been curious about it all and who was rather glad to spend a night or two away from the dormitory, had said yes.

"So, hmm, you can use everything here of course, and tomorrow we'll go to the mall and to the park."

"Ok, thank you."

Minako knew her aunt didn't really know what to say to her. She barely knew her anyway, and the girl guessed that Kire's actions had shocked her, maybe because Keiko was a mother too now. It wasn't that hard to be better at it than Kire anyway.

"Sota will be home shortly. Then we will have dinner."

Minako nodded as she followed her aunt inside the living room.

"Do you want something to drink?"

"I'd like water, please."

The situation was awkward, to say the least. Her aunt had trouble looking at her in the eyes, it was obvious she felt obliged to be there for her niece now that she was alone, that she felt sorry for her but at the same time she was wary of her. Minako wondered why. She didn't remember having done anything to cause such a reaction, but Keiko had always acted that way the few times they had seen each other.

"Thanks."

"You're welcome. You can sit down, you know."

"Thank you."

Her politeness put a little smile on Keiko's face. Minako was rather amused herself with the mixed feelings her aunt was projecting. It was clear to both that they would never be close, it was too late for that, and too many things seemed to stand between them, but still.

The situation was really ironical.

"They said that Kire doesn't give any news."

God, they weren't going to talk about that, were they? Minako still remembered too vividly all the questions the social workers asked her when they were trying to determine if yes or no they had to worry about her health if Kire kept raising her.

It had been humiliating, difficult and annoying.

"She hasn't since her last card, three months ago," Minako answered easily, calmly. She knew the way she talked (a little too much like people thrice her age) made people uneasy, and she liked it. "Did you talk to her?"

"No," Keiko answered quickly, and Minako kept herself from smirking. It almost sounded like she was defending herself. "I… I'm not even sure she's still in Tokyo."

"I see."

It was that perfect moment that Keiko's partner chose to come home. Minako stood up to greet him, it was the first time they saw each other, but her mind was elsewhere.

Keiko and Sota had a beautiful home in a nice neighborhood. Apparently, the woman had lived there alone before meeting the love of her life, because on the portal was a plate engraved with only the name 'AINO'.

Minako had noticed it immediately.

And she couldn't help but think that, in another life, if things had been different, if her parents had been in love and had loved her, that house could have been similar to her house.

A nice home, with the name of her family on it.

O

**Okinawa**

"Hi, mom, dad. I just wanted to see you before Christmas. I miss you, you know."

Makoto closed her eyes and swallowed her tears. She almost couldn't feel the coldness of this early December.

"I'm living with uncle Akihiro, he stopped doing his business trips for now. It's nice, but I'm a little lonely without you. You know, Akihiro, he's angry with himself. He feels really guilty, because he was the one that gave you the plane tickets. I told him it's not his fault. It isn't, right? You think so too, right?"

A sob broke her voice, and she sniffed. She put the flowers she had brought with her on the grave, and tried to smile.

"Well, I love you both, and the baby too, because even if it was really really little, I think about it, too. I… I try to be strong, and to be a good girl. I want to make you proud. Goodbye."

O

**Tokyo**

"Minako, I asked you a question. What is the capital of Egypt?"

The teacher's eyes narrowed when the pale girl didn't answer. Minako Aino wasn't the most attentive pupil, more often than not she was late, she 'forgot' to do some of her homework and daydreamed in class. But geography was one of the very few subjects the girl liked, and therefore mastered.

Now that she thought about it, Minako had been quiet all week long, and quite pale too. Right now, her gaze seemed too bright, and she apparently had trouble focusing it on her. Her inner alarm sounded, and the teacher frowned despite the giggles of the rest of the class.

"Silence," she ordered them, never turning her eyes away from the girl. She took a few steps toward the end of the class, where Minako was. "Minako, what is the capital of Egypt?"

The girl frowned.

"The… err…"

She knew Minako had the answer, it wasn't like her to act that way, and she almost seemed to be unable to form the words, or to find them in her mind. When Minako didn't know the answer usually, she wasn't scared to tell it. Punitions didn't bother her, the child was a free spirit, polite in a detached fashion, gifted in ways that only attentive people could understand, and the woman knew that she was also arrogant enough that when she had the good answers, she was rather satisfied with the chance to show off.

"The capital of England?"

When the girl kept silent again, it was clear that something really wasn't right.

"Minako, are you feeling… Minako!"

The children gasped and stopped giggling when their classmate fell from her chair, barely conscious.

"Hiro, go get the nurse!"

"Huh? Ah, yes!"

"Minako?" the teacher asked, putting the child in a more natural position.

"My head… hurts…"

"Since when?"

"Few days."

"Why didn't you say anything?"

"It happens sometimes," the girl whispered.

"You have a fever."

"I threw up this morning too… I'm cold."

"Minako?"

No use.

The girl was unconscious.

O


	15. 2000

O

**2000**

O

**Tokyo**

Sugao Saitou yawned as he left the gym. It had been a cute show given by the kids from the school, but still, why those were always for him to cover? His boss only tried to discourage him by giving him the most degrading articles to write, like all these school's festivals.

Well, if he thought that Sugao would so easily let go of his dream of becoming an important music reporter, he was very wrong!

The families and friends of the young actors, dancers and singers were all surrounding the children, praising them, helping them with their things. Sugao shook his head and walked toward the exit.

That's when he saw her. The girl who had had the lead role. She was really cute, and a gifted actress and singer, that had been obvious. Like he intended to write in his article, she was the reason why the show had been a success, and certainly why people had stood up at the end. Her charisma was almost blinding, everybody had been fascinated by her and entranced by her smile and voice.

And there she was, alone in the corner, waiting for someone or something, seemingly so isolated and left out. Sugao didn't like that vision at all, so he went to the child and smiled friendly.

"Hello. I had to come to congratulate you."

"Hello. Er, me?" the girl asked, adorably confused. She stood up and looked at him in the eye.

Oh, Sugao loved that proud look!

"Of course! Between us, you were the only talented one in the whole thing!"

"Thanks," she answered, giggling lightly. "But you should keep your voice down, because their families wouldn't appreciate."

He sighed dramatically.

"I know, people are like that. Your name is Aino, isn't it?"

"Minako," she completed.

"Sugao Saitou."

"I'm glad you liked the show."

"I'm glad you were in it! Saved my evening!"

She looked a little doubtful, and her eyes studied him strangely for a few seconds. Suddenly, without warning, as if she had seen something she really liked, she grinned, and it was the most beautiful thing he had seen in his whole week. He noticed, too, that she didn't seem to truly smile a lot, that kid, and he wondered why.

"Here," he said, a weird instinct pushing him. He gave her the rose he had just bought from the children behind the counter installed just for tonight. "I think you really deserve it, unlike all the others."

The girl's expression turned stunned, and she slowly accepted the delicate flower. Almost all the other children had received gifts or bouquets from their parents or friends, and he couldn't fathom why Minako was so alone when it was obvious that pure talent and potential slept in her, and, more important, when she seemed to be such a nice young girl.

As she reddened, her eyes lowered on the rose, it became apparent that she really wasn't used to receiving gifts, maybe attention too. It kind of broke his heart. He hated seeing children down.

The dark something in her gaze, that loneliness and sadness, it was too similar to what he saw every morning in his mirror.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome!" he said, grinning. "So, you sing very well, do you like music?"

And that was how they came to talk about their common passion.

O

Minako laughed at the man's antics. He really wasn't ordinary. He was exuberant, but he was fun, and his feelings were…

They were weirdly identical to hers, she thought. He was a little angry, but he had buried it under the need to fight, to stand proud, and he was quite intelligent. He knew so many things about music, and the music business! His feelings were dancing, and they were warm, and they were _true_.

He had liked hearing her sing, he had been impressed, and he liked talking with her. It was innocent, without hidden motives, it was refreshing, touching.

She liked him, she decided, him and his imperfections and his hidden wounds.

She wondered though what he saw in her that had pushed him to come and talk to her like that.

"You write?"

"A little," Minako said, blushing, focusing on the blue paint on his nails. "Mostly… happy things, you know? To cheer up. Or pieces about life and all that."

"Could I hear a song or two?"

"Oh, I don't know."

"Minako?"

The girl jumped. It was the music teacher, and he was eyeing Mr Saitou with distrust.

"Come on, someone is there to pick you up."

"Thanks. So, goodbye," she said to the man, bowing lightly.

He did the same.

"Goodbye, Minako."

He looked tired, even with his flamboyant green and blue jacket, and very alone standing there, so she plunged her hand into her schoolbag and quickly took the sheet of paper she had been scribbling all week on. It was a song she had been working on, and she thought it might bring a smile on the man's face.

She didn't like sensing him so discouraged.

"Here, it's for you."

He took the sheet with a surprised look, and she ran to catch up with her teacher who snickered.

"You shouldn't talk to people you don't know, Minako. He seemed suspicious to me."

"I think you're not the only one underestimating him, you should give him a chance," Minako defended calmly. "You could be surprised by what underestimated people could do, sensei. You could be very surprised."

O

**Okinawa**

Hiroshi had said goodbye to his few friends and had put his things into his car.

It was time to leave.

Since the Kino's death, he had been doing various jobs, but this place reminded too much of the people who had given him a chance years before. He couldn't understand why life had to take away two loving and special persons like that, especially when they had just celebrated the excellent news about that second baby they had dreamed of for so long.

Life was a bitch, that was all Hiroshi could say.

He wasn't sure what he would do now. He didn't have any debts left, it was a new beginning. For now, he was going to travel a bit, and find a place to work and live.

Far away from all his pasts.

O

"Makoto? You're going to stay silent until you go to bed?"

"No," the girl sighed.

"You're angry."

"They were the ones who insulted me!"

"I told you before, fighting will never resolve anything!"

"But they said bad things about mom and dad!"

"It was only to get at you! Mako, I know you're more intelligent than that, come on."

Vexed, angry and sore, the girl shrugged. Her uncle sighed.

"I know life hasn't been easy lately. I know you're independent, and mature, but you have to stop this."

"Dad always said it was important to fight for the ones we love."

"I'm sure he wouldn't want you to get hurt."

"I'm stronger than any of them."

"I know. But it's not a good reason. Right?"

"Right," Makoto agreed softly. "You're going away for work?"

"No, you know I can't."

"Do you miss it?"

"A little," he answered truthfully. "But for now I can stay at home to work, that way I can be with you."

"I could stay alone."

"You're still too young. One day, maybe."

O

**Tokyo**

Rei put the flowers on her mother's grave and joined her hands. She thought about her father, apparently he hadn't come.

Maybe he wouldn't.

It wasn't as if he thought or cared about them anyway. He never went on her grave with her, and he almost never called at the shrine. They saw each other what…? Once every two months? Less? And more often than not, it was for one of his stupid interviews.

His career was all he cared about, as always. He had missed so many things in her life already, and he was going to miss so many more.

Well, it wasn't like she missed him. She didn't need him. She had the shrine, her grandfather, and Phobos and Deimos, and the other priests, and the kids. That was all she needed.

Her father had given her up because he couldn't accept that she was different, that she had a gift, like her grandfather. Too bad for him, he was as narrow minded as so many in his field.

_She didn't need him._

If only her mother had lived, if only…

When she thought he had left her alone on her deathbed! The egoistical coward! Just because he had other things to do... How could he?

Leaving them alone, that was all he ever did.

Ever.

O

"Usagi! Why are you alone in there? Come with us!"

Ikuko saw immediately that something was bothering her daughter. Usagi wasn't the type of girls to stay in front of her room's window looking at the moon.

"Usagi, what is it?" Ikuko complained, going to her. "Come on, there's your favorite show on TV!"

"I had a weird feeling today, and…"

"What?"

"Some guys were bothering a boy at school. I don't understand, mom."

"Understand?" Ikuko asked, fighting to keep her smile on her face.

"Why do people do that?"

"It's because they don't know how better they would be if they were nicer. Usagi, not everyone can have a soul as beautiful as yours, you know."

Usagi frowned.

"I just want people to be happier."

"Well, you know what to do for that. Be yourself!"

"Mom," Usagi smiled. "That's silly."

"Oh, not really, my sweet, not really. You don't know yet what you are capable of. You're so young still."

"But –"

"Come on! Dad and Shingo are waiting for us!"

O

"How are you today?"

"Well, thank you."

"Really? You look a little pale."

Minako smiled. She wasn't ready to say to the man that she had been having health troubles for a year now. Sugao had come to see every shows she had been on, and even her volleyball games. With the necessary authorization, he had even come to visit her in the institute on week-ends or holidays. Sometimes, he brought her little gifts, like copies of CDs he liked, or magazines. For her birthday last month, he had given her a cute plushtoy reproduction of the little blue unicorn that the girl had once or twice drawn in the margins of her songs. He had called it Nako Nako, and said it was to be her mascott. Minako treasured the gift more than anything she owned.

She didn't really explained it, but he liked her, she could feel the fondness in him, it was warm, and so precious to her.

And as the months passed, they had forged a weird but true friendship, and Sugao had taken a liking in her music. He was convinced she could be a star and, as she didn't want to let him down, she had accepted to record two of her songs in a studio. He had paid, and the music teacher and an educator had come with them. They were always watched by one teacher or, like now at the children's home, an educator. It kept people from worrying or imagining weird things, or rather it was supposed to.

"I'm fine. And you?"

"Oh, the usual. Here. My mother wanted me to give you this."

Minako smiled and accepted the chocolate cake gratefully. She had never met Mrs Saitou, but she knew enough about her to know that she was quite the woman. Sugao had two older sisters and two older brothers, and Minako had understood that the man was kind of the black sheep in the family. He had never said it, but she had understood that he avoided family meetings like the plague.

"Thanks." Her eyes narrowed when she felt all these sparks in his feelings. He seemed… ecstatic. Sugao always showed only happiness and positivism to her, but she knew it was a front, therefore that type of glorious feelings in him was intriguing. "Something's happened?"

"Well…" He began, pausing deliberately. Sugao was all about theatrics, she knew. "I had the guy from Sunny Label on the phone earlier."

"A Label? Is it about the songs we sent everywhere?"

"Yes, and you know how I fought to defend our project, and well, it seems it worked. Finally!"

Minako blinked, not quite understanding. Sugao had been struggling for months, calling label after label, he had even resigned from his crappy job (not a bad thing, Minako thought), but nobody wanted to give them a chance.

"Don't you understand, Minako?" he said, his grin infectious, his voice way too loud, "you're going to record an album! And they accepted your songs, too!"

"My… songs?"

"Yes! Didn't I tell you you were talented? I was right all along. All those who didn't believe in us are going to swallow their words back!"

"_You_ are talented," she grinned happily, not quite believing what was happening, "you were the one creating the whole thing, defending the songs, calling all these people…"

"Well, it was a team work, then. And we're a good team, aren't we?"

"The best!"

"The two of us against the whole world! And we'll win!"

"Of course!"

"Well, I have to go talk with the director now."

"Again?" Minako asked. "Lately, every time you come here you go talk with him. And you never told me why you requested that first appointment in June, and he refused to explain. You said you would."

"And I will. It's true that we have a lot to discuss, especially now. We'll have to organize your time, and they have to protect you, you know. But don't worry about it, I'll arrange everything!"

He bowed with a flourish and winked at her. She giggled as she watched him leave the room.

She couldn't believe it. Just when people recognized her talent as captain of her volleyball team enough to interview her for a magazine and to take an interest in her future in that field, she met that odd man with his gift in business and never ending faith in her abilities. They were so alike, she had discovered as the months had passed…

And they were there, on the bridge of changing both their lives forever. Maybe it wouldn't work out, but Minako could feel it. Nothing would ever be the same.

She smiled, shook her head, and hoped, not really for her sake but more for his, that everything would be alright.

After all, it was about time life smiled at them.

O


	16. 2001

O

**2001**

O

**Tokyo**

"A doctor?"

"Yes," Mamoru answered, "that's what I'd like to become. With the money my parents left me I can afford it."

"My boy, Nami and I will be very happy to help you pay for your studies."

"You already did so much for me."

"You're part of our family, Mamoru," Ren said, smiling at the young teen, "You know that. As for your choice of career, well, I'm sure your parents would be very proud. I am."

Mamoru smiled and nodded timidly. Then, he left the room and, when alone, sighed.

He was so tired. He had trouble sleeping lately, weird dreams kept haunting him. Those dreams of the Moon, of the apocalypse…

Terrible images…

It was linked to his abilities, linked to his past.

Was it linked to his birth parents, or…?

One thing was for sure, Mamoru was determined to find out the truth about these visions, about himself, his identity.

He had to find that woman, that mysterious crystal.

He had to.

O

"It was fun, wasn't it?"

"It was a beautiful exposition," Ami nodded.

"Are you hungry?" her father asked. "We could go to a restaurant?"

"I'd love to."

"You know, I'm sorry to be so absent lately, I know I let you down too often."

"You're really occupied."

"That's not an excuse," he smiled. "I'm lucky to have such a perfect daughter."

"Dad…"

"Come on, let me boast a little."

"Fine," Ami said, laughing.

"Your mother said you two are going to go to France this summer?"

"Yes, she was able to take two weeks off for once."

"It's good, she works too much. Don't be like that when you grow up, huh? No need to exhaust yourself."

"She likes her job and helping people."

"That's Saeko for you! Ah, that restaurant looks great, doesn't it?"

"Yes."

"Come on!"

O

"Here, this is for you."

Minako smiled tiredly as Sugao put a bouquet of orange flowers on her nightstand in her hospital's room.

"They didn't want me to visit before."

"I know, they told me. Thanks for the flowers, they're beautiful."

"You're welcome. So, you would do anything to skip class, wouldn't you?"

She nodded with a little amused grin, relieved that he didn't look at her as she was a fragile little thing, or worse, with pity, like the educator in charge of her.

"Here, I brought this for you," Sugao said, leaving a few things on her nightstand. "Nako Nako needs a little revising apparently, and could you draw him a few more costumes? We think he will be a great asset to your universe. You'll have to read the other things too, it's about the things you'll have to do once we release the first song next month. Ready for it?"

"Yes," Minako grinned.

Frankly, she was really excited about it all. The album was almost ready, and their producer was enthusiast, even if it wasn't everyone's case. She had been trained to sing in front of imaginary people, the gestures, the smiles, the attitude, she had learned three different choreography already, two were with four dancers, older than her. She had tried the new costumes, done a lot of professional shopping for when she'll have to perform or go on TV sets, and lately they were training her to answer various questions correctly.

But right now, she was especially happy about a different thing. She was happy that, even if she was sick and unwell, Sugao didn't treat her differently and kept giving her work, and that was exactly what she wanted. It meant the world to her, that he had so much faith in her, that he understood her to that point, like nobody else before him.

In a way, they were the same. Hard on others but especially on themselves, hard working, demanding, passionate, distrustful, geniuses in their field, lonely and hurt, but before all, they were fighters.

"I have to tell you something else, too."

"What?"

"You know that the social authorities and I have been talking for many months now, and we have _finally_ agreed on different things."

"About me?"

She didn't like that, at all.

"Of course, about you. Well, here's the thing. The doctors want you to be very careful about your health from now on, so your timetable will be scrutinized by the authorities even more so than what we thought. We also agreed that it would be a good idea to have you home schooled from now on."

"I won't be going to school anymore?" Minako asked, delighted.

"You'll have a tutor who will give you lessons everyday, that doesn't exempt you from studying, you know. School is important."

"Of course."

Sugao didn't say anything about her broad smile, and played with the end of the white sheet.

Was he nervous?

"And as your musical career – which will be long and highly successful – is going to take a lot of your time, it appears logical that you can't keep living in the institute."

"But…"

"So I'll become your legal guardian from now on."

Stunned, Minako stayed silent for a few second.

"You… but…"

"They had trouble accepting it, that's why it's taken my lawyer and I more than a year to have a yes from the social services, even more so when we had a yes for the album and when they learnt that I'd be your manager, they feared money problems, you know. And with your sickness and all that, but now it's okay, so…"

So that was why he had been nervous…

"You want to become my legal guardian?" she asked softly.

"Why not? What do you say?"

Disbelieving, she looked at him for a while. Maybe the fever had plunged her in a dream, maybe…

"I… yes. Ok."

"Great!" he said, opening his arms widely. "My flat is not the best in the world, but you'll have your room. We'll have to go shopping for a few things though," he added in an afterthought.

"Are you sure –"

"Ahah! No hesitation! Am I the type to do things on a whim?"

"Hum, no?"

"Exactly. So, about next week…"

She smiled and let him talk as her tired mind wandered… How? How things could change so fast?

A few months ago she had been an orphan with nothing but her dreams and her determination, alone and quite bored.

And here she was, with a brain tumor possibly life threatening, an album ready to be released, and the oddest man as a legal guardian.

And she found that, there, now, exhausted and sick in this hospital's bed, a day after learning the true nature of her sickness, she was happier than she had ever been these last years.

That thought made her quietly snickered.

But she looked toward Sugao, knowing that he had fought all this time for her, to raise her from now on despite everything, despite the past and the sickness and the fact that (and she was convinced he had noticed _something_) yes, she was a little special, and knowing all that made her heart impossibly lighter.

The both of them against the whole world, huh?

_Well_, Minako thought with a confident and slightly predatory grin, _the world will never know what hit it._

O

_Tap tap. Tap tap._

Rei turned, trying to fall back into peaceful slumber…

_Tap tap. Tap tap._

The girl grumbled.

_Tap tap. Tap tap. TAP TAP._

She cracked an eye open, annoyed, and sighed.

"Phobos, stop, it's not morning yet…"

_Tap tap! Tap –_

"Phobos!" she sat up, trying to chase away the fog in her mind. "The sun is still far away, and my alarm clock didn't –"

"_Hello, Tokyo! It's six o'clock and it's going to be a beautiful day of December! And without delay, here's the song of Minako Aino, the young pop princess adored by all children and teens, who appeared with 'Happily' last month and immediately entered in the top charts. Have a good day!"_

Rei grunted again, defeated, and, as the voice of the singer sounded in her room, she stood up and tiredly turned off the alarm.

"Shut up."

With another sigh, she went toward the door and opened it, the cold air waking her up a little more.

"Phobos, stop tapping, I – Oh, sorry Deimos, I thought… Oh, come on! Don't sulk, I'm sorry, I'm barely awake! It's not funny, Phobos! Kami, it's too early for that, I need my tea… Well, I'll feed you after my own breakfast."

Ignoring the outraged cries of the crows, she closed the door and went toward her bathroom.

It was going to be a crappy day.

Rei rarely had trouble waking up early, but when she did, it was never good news.

O


	17. 2002

O

**2002**

O

**Tokyo**

Ami tried to study but a group of girls near her were too loud for her to concentrate. Curious as to what could interest them like that, she raised her head toward them. They were looking at something on the table.

"Yes, mom bought me one too!"

"Did you listen to it?"

"It's fantastic!"

"Yeah, you have the feeling that she's singing just for you, huh, Usagi?"

"I know, Naru! And every time I hear her songs I feel better!"

"Oh, look at that picture!"

"Her outfit is so cute!"

"Did you know she's our age? Can you imagine?"

Ami nodded to herself and lowered her eyes on her math book. Minako Aino, of course. Her first album had come out last week-end, three months after her first song was released, and it was already engraved in music history. No Japanese artist that young had established such a record of sold albums in only a week before her.

Her popularity had immediately sky rocketed, she was seen in multiple TV spots and posters, on numerous TV shows and magazines too. She seemed to be able to charm anyone.

Ami couldn't condemn the girls, she herself had bought the CD. Minako's music called to her, and she loved the songs. There was something… something that seemed familiar...

Shaking her head, Ami tried to concentrate on her studies again.

O

"Minako?"

"Yes?"

The girl raised her eyes toward the door of her bedroom and smiled upon seeing her manager and tutor, hoping that he wanted to work with her on something career-related. She was currently trying to do her homework, and it _wasn't_ going well.

He opened the door and entered. Minako liked her bedroom, first of all because it was _hers_, and secondly because it was nice and it felt like home with the pictures they had taken in the last months, the gifts she had received, and her various things.

"What is it?" she asked, feeling that he was upset about something.

He sighed and put something on her desk.

"The institute sent us that. It was in the mail this morning."

"Oh? What is it?"

"It's from your mother, Minako."

She froze, her eyes on the white envelope. Kire usually sent her a card for Christmas, something impersonal and simple. Weirdly, Christmas (unlike birthdays) had always seemed important to Kire, they had always done a Christmas tree on the occasion, and Minako had always received a gift, usually new and pretty clothes. But in spite of these cards, Minako hadn't seen her mother since she had left her. And today wasn't Christmas, far from it, and now Minako was a celebrity. What Kire had always wanted, Minako had achieved it (and yes, the young teen could see the irony there).

She sighed, took the envelope, opened it and took the card that was in it.

_Congratulations. K._

"Tsss," Minako whispered, letting card and envelope fall into her wastebasket.

Could she have been more impersonal? She had left her, she had never come to see her, so why the card?

Her aunt still invited her to her house, for a week-end every few months or so, and Minako sometimes felt obliged to accept. She never was at ease there and she felt that her uncle and aunt were the same as her, especially since the beginning of her career. Her young cousin was absolutely entranced by Minako, which didn't help the situation. She knew that Keiko had seen Kire once or twice, that she still was somewhere in Tokyo, and apparently in need of money, as always.

Ah! She was surely regretting having given Minako up! The fame, the money, the paparazzi…

"Want to go eat outside? Why not our usual restaurant?" Sugao proposed simply, studying his nails.

She smiled gratefully.

"I'd love to!"

But when she came home that night, after having prepared for bed, she couldn't help but reach into her wastebasket and retrieve the card from Kire. She sighed, hating herself for it, and she put it into her drawer, closing it a little too violently.

She was such a pitiful idiot.

O

"What? For… for me?"

"Of course, for you," Nami smiled. "With Seigi gone to study in London, we thought it was time to give you your independence too. You proved you were mature and serious enough, and that flat is closer to your high school and your future university. It will be easier for you to study."

"Take the key, son, come on," Ren said.

Mamoru nodded, took the key and slowly entered the flat. It was large, and nice, already filled with furniture.

"Hina helped us with the decoration. Do you like it?"

"Of course, Nami," Mamoru affirmed, touched. "I love it."

"Good, because it's going to be your home now."

"We wanted to tell you that even if you live here now, it doesn't mean that you can't come home anymore to talk or for advices, or to spend a few days with us. After all, you're family, and you're only sixteen."

"I know. I… I can't thank you enough for all you're doing for me."

"You don't need to, Mamoru. You really don't need to."

O

**Okinawa**

"He's going to be so furious…" Makoto whispered as she went home.

She had fought again. It wasn't her fault, things just got… She had just wanted to help that boy they were laughing at. But of course they had to be violent bullies.

Problems only seemed to follow her wherever she went. Everybody now knew of her reputation, it was getting oppressive, she couldn't evolve somewhere where everything was against her. She hated it.

She knew her uncle wanted only the best for her, he even stopped traveling for his job for her. Because he loved her. But she knew he missed it terribly.

They had to find something to make their life more to their liking, and fast.

Because neither of them was happy right now.

"At least, I've that," Makoto whispered with a little happy smile, looking at the album she held, _Imitation_. "It should improve my mood."

O

**Tokyo**

"Oh, I'm so tired!" Sugao complained as he let himself down on the couch of their new flat.

It was bigger, nicer, and it even had a music room! Minako still wasn't used to their new type of life, the luxurious hotels and restaurants, the cars with drivers, the fans, the reporters, the trips,… Ah, one thing she had immediately felt at ease with: the upgrade of her wardrobe. Curiously, shopping in the best stores had never troubled her.

But, hey, for the most part, they were adjusting pretty well! And loving every second of it!

The young girl giggled at her tutor's manners and accepted the cup of tea Amachachi Suyo, Sugao's young assistant, gave her.

"But it was a good day, wasn't it?" Sugao asked, taking his own cup.

"It certainly was," Minako smiled. "I loved how you shut that journalist up."

Sugao made a relaxed hand gesture.

"Ah, that was an old colleague of mine. Believe me, it was my pleasure."

"Oh, I certainly believe you."

"And now that I have an assistant, I think it's time you call me Shacho."

"Shacho?" Minako laughed. "But I'm your only protégée."

"I don't need others when I've the best."

"Shacho, huh? I could do that."

"Fantastic! Amachachi, it's time we organize the week to come. Have you booked the hotel rooms? We'll sleep in the usual, it's closer to the center and the hospital than the flat, especially given Minako's medical tests next Tuesday."

"I did."

"Perfect! Sooooo, about your tour, Minako,…"

O

Mamoru entered his apartment and nodded to himself. He opened his bag and found inside everything he needed to put together the costume he had dreamed of. He took the white mask and frowned.

_Tuxedo Kamen…_

It was another piece, another step toward his answers, his destiny.

"But what destiny?" he murmured.

Who was he? What was he?

Tuxedo Kamen, Mamoru Chiba, or…?

He just knew these clothes would come in handy, knew that the time was near…

But the time for what?

His phone ringed, and he answered it, the mask still in his hand.

"Hello? (…) Hey, Motoki. (…) No, of course not, I'll help you. (…) Ok, I'm coming, see you there."

O

**Yamagata**

He watched it. He couldn't help it.

He would never have thought that it would come to that.

That she could haunt him like that. Impossible to live in Japan without hearing her name (that name that he had chosen for her) or reading it somewhere. It had been a shock, of course. A big one, to wake up one morning and see her name on a magazine cover.

She was thirteen now, with the delicate beauty of Kire, her eyes, and something in her smile that was definitively his. God, she was truly perfect. He had bought her album, of course, he listened to it too often. He read things about her, tried to imagine her life.

She loved sports, music of course, performing. She was intelligent, she talked well, she was polite and charming, she was…

She was not his.

Hiroshi knew that much, she wasn't his because he hadn't raised her, hadn't fought for her, didn't know her, and he couldn't help but think that it was fate laughing at him that Kire had raised their daughter to become the star she had never become. Funny how she didn't appear near Minako in the pictures and on TV, trying to steal a part of the spotlight, but she must have changed after all these years...

Kire… He wondered how she was. Sometimes, he missed her.

As for Minako, well, he couldn't help the surge of pride in his chest when thinking of her, the warm feeling of love that had never left him since he had held her in his arms in that little nursery. He hoped she was well, that she enjoyed herself and was happy, that she was well taken care of, but apparently Kire had cared for their child in the end.

Now he knew that he would never be her father. It was too late, he had failed her. She didn't need him, for anything, she already had all what she could need and more, her mother, surely a lot of friends, her career, she looked happy and healthy.

She didn't need him, and so he would keep reading, listening and watching everything about that child he had lost so long ago.

And who would never know.

O

**Okinawa**

"You sure?"

"I am. I think you're ready."

Makoto smiled happily and looked at the gift her uncle had given her for Christmas. It was an official paper, a request for partial emancipation of a minor.

"What does it mean?"

"It means I'll still be your tutor, I'll still give you money and watch over you, visit you at least once a month, but you'll live in a flat, alone, and you'll be responsible for your acts."

"Tokyo?"

"That's where you wanted to go, wasn't it? You'll be transferred for the next school year, in a few weeks."

"Thank you, thank you, _thank you_! You're the best uncle!"

"Yeah, yeah!" he laughed. "But, Makoto, if you fight again, that thing will be null and void, understood?"

"Of course! Does that mean you'll be traveling again?"

"Yes."

"It's great!"

"True, true. So, it's time for the desert, isn't it?"

"Oh, yes! I made your favorite!"

"I'll really miss your cooking, that's for sure," he sighed.

His niece grinned teasingly.

"You should find yourself a woman who can cook, then."

O

**Tokyo**

"Merry Christmas," Minako whispered as she gazed toward the sky.

This year had been pure madness. Sugao and Minako could never had guessed that her popularity would expend like that in a year, she couldn't go anywhere without being harassed by fans. Her first album was already a double platinum record, and the special edition they had released in time for Christmas was on its way to be a gold record. They were preparing her second album, which should be released in three to four months, she was going on a China tour at the beginning of the year and she would give two London concerts in May.

She had seen Kire, too. She was pretty sure it hadn't been an accident, even if the woman had claimed it to be so. It had been three months ago, in front of an hotel they had been staying in. Minako had been too stunned to do anything at first, and her mother had studied her and said hello awkwardly, it had been quite weird. Because Minako had grown up, she was confident now, sure of herself and of her worth, but in front of this woman, she _still_ had the humiliating envy to lower her eyes.

When the word 'money' had left the woman's lips, Sugao had intervened, pushed Minako toward Amachachi, who hadn't understood what was happening but had nevertheless led the young singer to the car. After a few words, Sugao had come toward them and entered the car, and they had left. Since then, Minako hadn't heard of Kire.

But presently, the teen was on the roof of the building that held the flat Sugao and Minako were sharing, with a little Christmas tree, a Father Christmas candle and only the noise of the streets far bellow as company.

Because of the snow, Sugao had been held in London. He had promised they would spend the next day together, and had sounded really down. She was sorry for him, she knew how he hated airports, and she knew he was feeling guilty about leaving her alone on that night. She understood, but really, she had difficulty being in the mood anyway, so it was probably better that way.

Two weeks ago, when she had _again_ woken up in a hospital's bed, she had learned that she only had a few short years to live, because of the tumor. One, maybe two years, three if she was extra lucky (but Minako knew she _wasn't_, so she didn't count on that). Really, she must have a few deities against her, right? At last, her life was a little better, she was happier, and bam!, she was dying.

Why? Why all those years of struggles, just to die that way, so young, because of that more or less incurable sickness?

Why, why her, why now?

Was life supposed to be just that? Why was she born, then?

Minako sighed and quietly sang _Silent Night_, feeling quite lonely. Her eyes immediately went toward the full moon, as they often did, especially lately. Her dreams had intensified, she couldn't understand it, that urgent feeling in her heart, in her mind, the nightmares…

Was it linked to her tumor?

Something was coming, but she didn't know what, and it scared her to feel that way.

With her career, she had almost forgotten her doubts about her nature, her gifts, everything, but now...

She sighed again and lied down on the table to look at the stars. She couldn't help but smile when she saw Venus so luminous, and then her eyes naturally came back on the Moon.

That's when she saw it.

Something was… falling…?

O

"Artemis, you said?" she asked, looking toward the Moon, still feeling the power in her. It was a marvelous thing. She felt stronger and better than she had ever felt since her health had worsened. "Thank you. It's the best Christmas I've ever had."

She grinned, and new images, but clearer than the dreams she always had, floated in front of her eyes. She didn't understand everything yet, but now she knew.

All these years, all the pain… She knew why. Why she was there, in this world, indeed different.

Why she lived.

It was because of that, of _this_. Of the past, of the Moon, of her mission. She was a soldier, that was the only reason she existed, the only reason she was born. To fight, to protect, before she died.

She wasn't a monster, she wasn't an error, and her life had a meaning.

She was a _warrior_. Minako Aino wasn't what mattered, she never had been. But the Senshi, yes, the Senshi she was…

_She_ was important.

She took Artemis in her arms and used her new awakened powers to run away from the scene.

"I'm surprised you're not more… well, surprised," the plush cat said to her.

She smiled happily.

"I think that's because I've been waiting for this, for you, for a very long time now, Artemis."

"What? You're not supposed to have been waiting. You… remember?"

"No, not exactly. Only… bits and pieces."

"That's weird."

She jumped on the building's roof and found herself in her normal clothes again.

"So, Minako, is it? You're a popstar, huh? How did that happen? I have to know you better before we begin your training, Sailor V! Oh, and is it Christmas? My knowledge on that Earth is still a little cloudy…"

Minako grinned.

She had the feeling that she wouldn't have the time to be bored during her too few remaining years. And more importantly, she would do something useful, something _meaningful_ before she disappeared, because she was on this Earth for a purpose.

And to Minako, that was all that mattered.

O

**Tokyo**

The fire was dancing weirdly tonight. Something…

Something happened…

Rei could feel it. Something had been set into motion.

What…?

Why the need to meditate suddenly, in the middle of the night? Why?

She saw something suddenly, a form… a woman… No. A _girl_. A teen. She looked frail, but… something around her was bright and strong, _powerful_, and… Wait. There. All of a sudden she wasn't alone, others were with her and something dark, strong, _terrible_ was enveloping them…

With a big intake of breath, Rei let the vision go, shaking, strangely cold, worried about something (someone?) she couldn't identified.

She could feel it, in the near future, all she knew would change.

"It's coming…"

O

**End.**

_It__ ends with Act Zero after all, because I really didn't see the need to add a chapter, you now what happens next, don't you?_

_Hope you liked that trip into the girls and Mamoru's childhoods and origins!_

_Y._


End file.
